"True and firm." Biography of Ezra Cornell, founder of the Cornell University

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REV. R. J. COTTER, D. 0.

BIOGRAPHY

EZRA CORNELL,

FOUNDER OF THE

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

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NEW YORK :
A. S. BARNES & COMPANY.

1884.

COPYRIGHT BY
A. S. BARNES & CO.

1884

I

J

CO

MY DEAR MOTHER,

WHOSE AFFECTIONATE DEVOTION, FRUGAL ECONOMY, WISE COUNSEL,

PATIENT FIDELITY AND CHEERFUL BEARING

CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH

TO THE

ACHIEVEMENTS

RECORDED HEREIN,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

AS A TRIBUTE OF
FILIAL GRATITUDE AND REVERENCE.

PREFACE.

FOR several years it has been the author's de-
sire that a suitable biography of the FOUNDER OF
THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY should be prepared by
another, whose cultured pen would invest the
work with that degree of interest to which the
subject is so worthily entitled. Exacting duties
have, however, delayed such an undertaking, and
still prevent any reasonable promise of its early
consummation. Mainly for the purpose of placing
the material in form for safe preservation for future
use, this simple record of the leading incidents of
his earnest life and untiring labors has been pre-
pared, which, it is hoped, may hereafter serve as
a text-book of facts requisite for the more inter-
esting treatment of the subject by other and abler
hands. Prepared originally for private use, it is
realized that the work is deficient of any literary
merit which would justify its publication, and that

vi PREFACE.

course has finally been taken only at the urgent
solicitation of interested friends.

Time has already largely depleted the ranks of
those familiar with the early history of the tele-
graph enterprise in America, and but few now re-
main with us who participated in the pioneer work
with which the subject of this sketch was so in-
timately associated. Viewed from the standpoint
of the wonderful development of the telegraph at
the present day, the many interesting incidents
which attended the earlier efforts to place this
novel invention on a substantial foundation, pos-
sess much of the interest of romance. The ad-
mirable and intelligent foresight, the energetic
labors, the untiring perseverance, and the unwav-
ering faith which distinguished the efforts of this
courageous pioneer, contending with the vigorous
antagonisms of rival interests, afford a lesson well
calculated to encourage the endeavors of others,
who find themselves confronted and embarrassed
by obstacles which endanger the success of cher-
ished ambitions or objects.

Personal incidents and characteristics have been
made the subject of more detailed reference than
may perhaps interest the general reader. Con-
sidering the nature of the work as planned in its

PREFACE. vii

original design, it was deemed best, however, to
canvass these features more definitely, to enable
future students of the Founder's unselfish labors
the better to appreciate the true character of the
man. Whatever may hereafter be written of him
will, with entire propriety, deal more particularly
with reference to his great services in the cause
of education. It has seemed better, therefore,
that the present effort should treat of his individ-
uality with all necessary completeness, especially
in view of the fact that the writer is more thor-
oughly familiar with his whole career than others
can be, who are likely to take part in future con-
tributions to the subject.

Much space, relatively, has been given in these
pages to the subject of the Cornell Library, from
the fact that it is believed to have been the influence
of this undertaking on the mind of the Founder,
as the work progressed, which in large measure
prepared the way for his subsequent course.
Wider interest will doubtless incline to the greater
project which engrossed so much of his philan-
thropic efforts. His great endeavors to establish
on the most enduring basis the great educational
institution which has already attained such emi-
nence, cannot fail to interest all who contemplate

vin PREFACE.

them. The limit of this work has, necessarily,
confined treatment of the University to the merest
outline of the circumstances leading to its endow-
ment and organization, with a brief reference to its
subsequent development. This deficiency, how-
ever, is of less importance, from the fact that
information respecting the institution is readily
available to all who may have occasion to de-
sire it

A. B. c.
NEW YORK, January, 1884.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER L

ANCESTRY.

PAGE

Puritan Origin — Friends or Quaker Ancestry — Elijah Cornell born,
1771 — His Father's early Death — Apprenticed to Potter's Trade,
1791 — Eunice Barnard born, 1788 — Marriage, 1805 — Marriage
Certificate — Located in Westchester — Loss of Vessel — Removal to
De Ruyter, 1807 — Friends' Meeting in Quaker Basin — Return to
Westchester, 1810 — Removal to New Jersey, 1817 — Close of War
prostrates Business — Return to De Ruyter, 1819 17

CHAPTER IL

PIONEER LIFE.

A Winter Journey from New Jersey to De Ruyter — Discomforts of
Early Travel — Contrast with Present Facilities — Pioneer Life —
Primitive Agriculture — Scarcity of Market — Establishing a Pottery
— Advantages of Diversified Industries — Removal to Ithaca, 1841
— Personal Characteristics — Death of Wife and Mother — Severe
Bereavement — Christian Character — Long and Useful Life — Large
Number of Worthy Descendants 27

CHAPTER IIL

BIRTH, CHILDHOOD, AND YOUTH.

Birth of Ezra Cornell, 1807 — Vigorous Constitution — Obedient Child-
hood— Active and Studious — Anxiety to Attend School — Supe-

x CONTENTS.

PACK

rior Scholarship — Meagre Educational Advantages — Mechanical
Tastes — Assists building Pottery — Erecting Dwelling — Surprising
Success — Ambition for Self-support — Seeking Employment —
Syracuse a mere Hamlet — Employment at Homer — Visiting Home
— Decides to Locate at Ithaca — Early Advantages of the Village —
On Foot to Ithaca — Worthy Ambition 38

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY MANHOOD.

Employment at Ithaca, 1828 — Ira Tillotson — Bloodgood House — Bap-
tist Church — Otis Eddy — Cotton Factory — Repairing Beebe's
Mill — Continued Employment with Colonel Beebe, 1829 to 1841
— Mechanical Skill — Fall Creek Tunnel — Beebe Dam — Lifelong
Friendship with Colonel Beebe — Improving Schools — Influence in
Local Affairs — Political Action — Hard Cider Campaign — "Tip-
pecanoe and Tyler too " — Death of President Harrison — Loss of
Employment — Looking Abroad 47

CHAPTER V.

MARRIAGE.

Elijah Cornell and Benjamin Wood — A Prolonged Friendship — Nota-
ble Visit — "Woodlawn" — Mary Ann Wood born, 1811 — Mar-
riage Engagement — Married, March 19, 1831 — Housekeeping —
Early Home — Nine Children, of whom Five Survive — Quaker
Discipline — Telegraph Enterprise — Absence from Home — Success
in Business — " Forest Park " — Domestic Felicity 59

CHAPTER VI.

SEEKING BUSINESS.

Financial Crisis, 1837 — Business Prostration — Out of Employment —
Barnaby and Mooers' Patent Plow — Trip to Maine, 1842 — Hon. F.
O. J. Smith — First Acquaintance — Visits Georgia — Fifteen Hun-

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

dred Miles on Foot — Return Home — Second Visit to Maine Re-
newal of Acquaintance — A Peculiar Machine Wanted — The Tele-
graph— A New Invention — First Meeting with Professor Morse —
Successful Experiment — Engagement in Telegraph Enterprise —
Proceeds to New York — Criticising Imperfect Pipe — Warning
Unheeded 69

CHAPTER VIL

EARLY DAYS OF THE TELEGRAPH.

At Baltimore, 1843 — Preparations to Lay Telegraph Conductors —
Success of Pipe-laying — Testing the Pipe — Midnight Experiments
— Defects Discovered — Pipe laid to Relay House — Professor
Morse's Mysterious Errand — Respite Wanted — A Queer Acci-
dent— Broken Plow — Anxious Conferences — Critical Situation —
Appropriation nearly Exhausted — Failure Apprehended — Morse
and Smith Disagree — Change of Programme — Light Wanted —
Subterranean Line Abandoned — Poles Adopted — Line Com-
pleted— Successful Operation — Presidential Nomination, 1844 —
Congressmen Astonished 81

CHAPTER VIII.

TELEGRAPH DEVELOPMENT.

Practical Success in Operation — Government Declines to Purchase
Telegraph Patent for $100,000 — Postmaster-General's Report —
Seeking Private Capital — Exhibition of Telegraph — Boston — New
York — Building Lines — Philadelphia to New York, 1845 — ^ew
York to Albany, 1846 — Troy and Canada, 1847 — Erie and Michi-
gan, 1848 — Poverty of Chicago — Small Investments — New York
and Erie, 1849 — Fatal Error in Insulation — Cold Plunge in River
— Competition in Western States — Serious Accident — Broken
Arm — Bitterness of Rivalry — Unexampled Brutality — Final Tri-
umph 91

xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

PACK

Liberal Patronage in Western States — Activity of Competition —
Threatened Bankruptcy — Necessity of Consolidation — Organiza-
tion of Western Union Telegraph Company — Remarkable Success
— Good Resulting from Evil — Railway Co-operation — Growth of
the Western Union System — Reduction of Tariffs — Russian Ex-
tension Project — Success of Atlantic Cables — Mr. Cornell's Ser-
vices— Profitable Investment 108

CHAPTER X.

AGRICULTURAL TASTES.

Rural Tendencies — Resuming Agricultural Pursuits — Improved Breeds
of Animals — The Forest Park Herd — Farmers' Club— Agricultural
Societies — President of State Society — Delegate to London Ex-
position— European Travel — State Fair — Embarrassments of the
Agricultural College — Proposition to Endow an Institution for
Agricultural Education — Donating a Farm — Neglected Facilities. 120

CHAPTER XL

PUBLIC LIFE.

Duty of Citizens — Activity in Public Affairs — Political Management —
Delegate to First National Republican Convention — Fremont —
Seward — Lincoln — Elected to State Assembly — Re-elected —
State Senator — Second Term — Declines Farther Service — Legis-
lative Labors — Measures Supported — Official Fidelity 132

CHAPTER XIL
THE CIVIL WAR.

Anti-Slavery Agitation — Personal Observations — Opposition to Slavery
Extension — Repeal of Missouri Compromise — Free Territories —
Republican Success — Treasonable Teachings — The Great Re-

CONTENTS. xiii

PAGE

bellion — Call for Troops — Sustaining the Government — Encour-
aging Enlistments — Care of Volunteers' Families — Comfort of the
Soldiers — Visiting Battle-fields and Hospitals — Aiding the Sick
and Wounded — Care of Orphans — Restoration of the Union — Sus-
taining the Veterans 144

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CORNELL LIBRARY.

Generous Inspirations — Projecting a Free Public Library — Conference
with Citizens — Founding the Cornell Library — Erecting the Edi-
fice— Its Cost — Germs of the Library — Income for its Support —
Inauguration Ceremonies — The Founder's Address — Formal Pre-
sentation— Acceptance of Trustees by Hon. Benjamin G. Ferris
— Address of Hon. William H. Bogart — Contribution of Books
— Subsequent Management — Conclusion 155

CHAPTER XIV.

ADDRESS OF DEDICATION, CORNELL LIBRARY.

Appreciative Co-operation — Address of Dedication by Hon. Francis
Miles Finch — An Eloquent and Impressive Discourse — Educa-
tional Influence of Libraries — Duty of Grateful Appreciation —
Useful Lessons — Neglected Opportunities — Unhealthy Excite-
ment 172

CHAPTER XV.

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY — CHARTER AND ORGANIZATION.

Demand for Scientific Education— The Agricultural College — Its Fail-
ure— Congressional Appropriation of Public Lands for Agricultural
and Mechanical Education — Acceptance by the State — Appropria-
tion to People's College — Inadequate Vitality and Withdrawal of
Appropriation — Mr. Cornell's Offer of $500,000 — Animated Con-

xiv CONTENTS.

PACK

test — Charter of Cornell University — Offensive Proviso — Location
of the University — Additional Contributions by the Founder —
Erection of College Edifices — President White — University Fac-
ulty and Equipment — Liberal Attendance of Students 184

CHAPTER XVL

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY — INAUGURAL CEREMONIES.
Opening of the University — Inaugural Exercises — Notable Occasion —
Founder's Address — President White's Inaugural — Subsequent
Benefactions — The McGraw Building — Sibley College of Mechanic
Arts — Female Education — The Sage College — Sage Chapel —
University Sermons — Jennie McGraw's Generous Efforts — New
Buildings — Grand Development — Increased Equipment and En-
larged Facilities — The Founder's Aims and Hopes 198

CHAPTER XVIL

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY — THE LAND GRANT FUND.

Conditions of the Appropriation — Depreciation in Value of Land
Scrip — Prospects of Meagre Endowment — Mr. Cornell Volunteers
to Locate Public Lands for Benefit of the University — Contract
with the Comptroller — Immense Labors — Large Advances — Gra-
tuitous Services — Serious Illness — Contract Transferred to Univer-
sity Authorities — Successful Realization — Traducers — Vilification
— Cruel Misrepresentations — Official Investigation — Complete Vin-
dication. . ; 215

CHAPTER XVIIL

RAILROADS.

Geographical Location of Ithaca — Early Prosperity — Injured by Rail-
way Development — Declining Importance — Inaccessible — Neces-
sity for Additional Facilities of Travel — Ithaca & Athens Rail-
road— Ithaca & Cortland — Geneva & Ithaca — Utica, Ithaca, &
Elmira — Bonding Towns — Inability to Complete Roads — Mr. Cor-

CONTENTS. xv

PAGE

nell Undertakes the Work — Financial Crisis, 1873 — Embarrass-
ments—Fatal Illness and Death— Sale of Interests — Great Losses
— Superb Facilities for Travel provided 227

CHAPTER XIX.

PUBLIC ENTERPRISE — LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS.

Local Interests — Loyal Citizenship — Public Enterprise — Manufacturing
Interests — Ontario Ship Canal — Telegraph Connections — Glass-
Works — Proposed Iron-Works — Ithaca Savings Bank — First Na-
tional Bank — Local Prosperity — Increased Population — Extent of
University Patronage — Romantic Scenery— Other Enterprises 239

CHAPTER XX.

FAMILY AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

Reserved Manners — Filial Affection — Self-Reliance — Devotion to
Parents — Great Bereavement — Fraternal Generosity — Domestic
Relations — Family Discipline — Education of Children — Interest
in Distant Relations — Genealogical Labors — Loyalty to Old
Friends — New Family Residence — " Villa Cornell " — Elegance of
Construction — " True and Firm" 251

CHAPTER XXL '

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS — RELIGIOUS CHARACTER.
Individuality — Truth and Frankness — Nervous Energy — Untiring In-
dustry— Manual Labor — Pedestrianism — Perseverance — Patience
— Mental Equipment — Courage — Independence — Integrity — Per-
fect Development — Personal Appearance — Unassuming Manners
— Private Benefactions — Religious Character — Friends' Discipline. 264

CHAPTER XXIL

LAST ILLNESS.

Vigorous Constitution — General Good Health — Promised Longevity —
Fatal Exposure — Sudden Attack of Pneumonia — Extreme Prostra-

xvi CONTENTS.

PACE

tion — Languishing Weakness — Financial Burdens — Physicians
Plead for Exemption from Business Cares — Attempted Relief —
Menaced by Rigorous Weather — Relapse — Final Rest 277

CHAPTER XXIIL

PUBLIC TRIBUTES.

General Sympathy — Ithaca "Daily Journal" — Froude's Tribute —
Formal Expressions — Cornell University — Cornell Library — West-
ern Union Telegraph Company — Village Trustees — Students — Ith-
aca Savings Bank — Board of Education — Geneva, Ithaca, & Athens
Railroad — Agricultural Society — Presbyterian Church — Proclama-
tion of Village President — Founder's Hymn. 287

CHAPTER XXIV.

FUNERAL OBSEQUIES.

Manifestations of Grief — Suspension of Business — Lying in State in
Library Hall — Funeral Ceremonies — Vast Concourse in Attend-
ance— Services Conducted by Dr. Wilson and Dr. Stebbins — Pall-
bearers— The Procession — Remains Deposited in Family Vault —
Observances at Syracuse, Auburn, Aurora, Cayuga, Towanda,
Syracuse University — Dr. Stebbins' Address — " Our Founder". . 308

EZRA CORNELL.

CHAPTER I.

ANCESTRY.

Puritan Origin. — Friends or Quaker Ancestry. — Elijah Cornell
born, 1771. — His Father's early Death. — Apprenticed to Pot-
ter's Trade, 1791. — Eunice Barnard born, 1788. — Marriage,
1805. — Marriage Certificate. — Located in Westchester. — Loss
of Vessel. — Removal to De Ruyter, 1807. — Friends' Meeting
in Quaker Basin. — Return to Westchester, 1810. — Removal to
New Jersey, 1817. — Close of War prostrates Business. — Re-
turn to De Ruyter, 1819.

THE opportunities afforded by Republican institu-
tions, for the development and elevation of indi-
vidual character, illustrate more, perhaps, than
anything else, the wisdom of our forefathers, in
establishing- a government so aptly described by
the martyred LINCOLN, as "of the people, by
the people, for the people." In no other coun-
try is it possible for the youth of humble birth to
achieve results which are constantly occurring in
our history. Here we have numberless examples
of men, born and reared in the deepest poverty

1 8 EZRA CORNELL.

and obscurity, attaining the most eminent posi-
tions in public life. Dignitaries of the highest
rank have in many instances- ascended from the
most humble and unpromising origin ; while
many of the greatest fortunes in the land, have
been acquired by men, who began life with
empty hands, and without the aid of friends or
patrons. So, too, some of the most important
and valuable inventions and discoveries, have
been made by persons, springing from the most
obscure walks of life. The learned professions
furnish innumerable illustrations of like character,
and it may be stated almost as a rule, that the
grandest successes in the intellectual activities of
our country, have been accomplished by those,
who may truthfully be classed as self-made men,
and have arisen, unsupported, by means of their
own talents and efforts.

The career of the subject of this sketch, EZRA
CORNELL, the founder of the CORNELL UNIVER-
SITY, presents a notable example of the achievement
of unaided effort. The child of humble parentage,
reared in a new country, beyond the reach of ad-
vanced educational facilities, with only such rudi-
mentary training as the district school of a fron-
tier region afforded, by the inherent force of his
native talents, he successfully gained a great for-
tune, that, in the desire to elevate his fellow-man,

ANCESTRY. 19

he devoted to the establishment of a noble edu-
cational institution, which, though only now in the
second decade of its existence, has already at-
tained a prominent position among the oldest and
most celebrated universities of the country.

A complete history of the unceasing labors and
indomitable energy, devoted to the acquisition of
his fortune ; of the obstacles encountered and sur-
mounted ; of the admirable foresight with which
he planned, and the unwavering faith, by which
he was sustained to final success, through a wil-
derness of difficulties and discouragements, would
read almost like a romance ; while the generosity
and self-sacrifice with which he dedicated the
fruits of success to the intellectual advancement
of his race, afford a striking illustration of the
real greatness of the man.

The ancestry of Mr. Cornell, both paternal and
maternal, was of Puritan origin, descending from
the original settlement at Plymouth, so celebrated
in the early history of civilization, on the Ameri-
can continent. For many generations, they had
been members of the religious denomination, or
sect, of Friends, more commonly called Quakers,
a class of people well-known for sturdy upright-
ness of character, and for their domestic virtues.
With them, industry, sobriety and frugality were
dominant characteristics, while they were espe-

20 EZRA CORNELL.

cially noted for benevolence, and charitable acts.
Domestic in their ways of life, marriage was
with them a holy tie, and the family circle
was considered a sacred precinct, which should
be exempt from indecorous or trifling invasion.
In those days there was but little wealth in the
country, and the possession of an independent
competence was, indeed, rare. Labor was, there-
fore, the rule, and idleness the exception. Then
as now, however, industry and economy were
certain to bring their reward. While some mis-
fortune might often bring want, real poverty was
but little known, but if caused by unavoidable
circumstances, it was not regarded as discredit-
able, and was always certain to find quick relief.

Mr. Cornell's father, ELIJAH CORNELL, was born
in the town of Swansea, Bristol County, Mass.,
October 17, 1771, and was consequently four and
a half years of age when the Declaration of
Independence was promulgated by the Conti-
nental Congress. He was the son of Elijah Cor-
nell, who was married, December 4, 1769, to
Sarah, daughter of Benjamin and Mehetabel Mil-
ler. Both of Mr. Cornell's parents were de-
scended from families, who had, for many genera-
tions, been reared in the near vicinity of his place
of nativity. From his parentage, he inherited the
modest and unpretending simplicity of character,

HIS MOTHER. 21

that so particularly distinguished the race of
people from which he was descended. His father
died while young Elijah was still in infancy,
leaving his mother, with two young children de-
pendent upon her, and with very slender means
of support. She was afterward, August n, 1777,
married to Benjamin Chase, an estimable man in
every sense of the term, who became, indeed, a
father to the fatherless. Under his fostering care,
Elijah and his elder brother, were brought up on
an equal footing with a considerable family of
children, the issue of the second marriage of their
mother.

That they were fairly educated, considering the
primitive times in which they lived, is attested
by the fact that Elijah was frequently employed
in teaching school, both before and after his
marriage. Elijah, at the age of nineteen, was in-
dentured by his mother to Asa Chase, of Somer-
set, Bristol County, Mass., to learn the potter's
trade. The letters of indenture, which bear date
January 28, 1791, are still extant and in the pos-
session of his descendants. The mother of Ezra
Cornell, Eunice, daughter of Captain Reuben
Barnard and Phebe Coleman, was born at Nine
Partners, Dutchess County, N. Y., May u,
1788. Her father was formerly a sea captain,
engaged in whale fishery from New Bedford,

22 EZRA CORNELL.

who, in his earlier years, had made many voy-
ages around Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean, in
the prosecution of his calling, sometimes being
away on a single cruise two or three years, with-
out tidings from home during the entire voy-
age. Tiring of the monotony and dangers of a
sea-faring life, and especially, of the prolonged
absence from his family incident thereto, he
withdrew from it, and, attracted by the reported
prosperity of former neighbors who had emigra-
ted to Columbia and Dutchess Counties, N. Y.,
he was induced to follow them, and with his fam-
ily removed to his new home, not many years
prior to the birth of his daughter named above.

Elijah Cornell and Eunice Barnard were united
in marriage in the " Friends' Meeting," at New
Britain, July 4, 1805.* In harmony with their

* MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.

Whereas Elijah Cornell, son of Elijah Cornell and Sarah his
wife, of the county of Bristol, in the State of Massachusetts, and
Eunice Barnard, daughter of Reuben Barnard and Phoebe his
wife, of the county of Columbia, and State of New York, having
declared their intention of marrying with each other, before the
Monthly Meetings of the people called Quakers, held at Hudson
and New Britain in the State last named, they having consent
of parents and parties concerned, and nothing appearing to ob-
struct their said proposal, were allowed of by the Meeting. Now,
these are to certify all whom it may concern, that for the full
accomplishment of their said intentions, this fourth day of Sev-
enth Month, in the year 1805, they, the said Elijah Cornell and

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE. 2$

early training, both were professing members of
the religious denomination, to which their fami-
lies had been attached, and throughout their
prolonged and useful lives, they continued hum-
ble, consistent, and devoted Christians, careful
in observing every requirement of their faith,

Eunice Barnard, appeared in a public meeting of said people, at
New Britain, and he, the said Elijah Cornell, taking the said Eu-
nice Barnard by the hand, did in a solemn manner, openly de-
clare that he took her to be his wife, promising, through Divine
assistance, to be unto her a faithful and loving husband, until
death separate them, or words to that effect. And then the said
Eunice Barnard, did in like manner declare that she took the said
Elijah Cornell, to be her husband, promising, through Divine as-
sistance, to be unto him a faithful and loving wife until death sep-
arate them, or words to that purport ; and moreover they, the said
Elijah Cornell and Eunice Barnard, she, according to the custom
of marriage assuming the name of her husband, as a further con-
firmation, did there to these presents set their hands.

ELIJAH CORNELL.

EUNICE CORNELL.

And we, whose names have hereunto subscribed, being present
at the solemnization of said marriage and subscription, have as
witnesses hereunto set our hands, the day and year first above
written.

REUBEN BARNARD. SIMEON MACY.

SHADRACH WILBUR. GIDEON SWAIN.

DAVID REYNOLDS. PHEBE MACY.

PHILIP CORNELL. ELIZABETH BARNARD.

FRANCIS BARNARD. MARY BARNARD.

BENJAMIN CHASE. ANNA GARDNER.

ELIAKIM MOSHER. ANN PECKHAM.

URIEL COFFIN. LIDIA SWAIN.

24 EZRA CORNELL.

following1 in both speech and dress the pe-
culiarities of their sect. Although Elijah Cor-
nell was nearly thirty-four years of age, when he
entered into the wedded state, he lived to see
all of his eleven children grow to maturity,
married and settled in life, the youngest being,
at the time of his death, more than thirty
years of age. He resided in Westchester Coun-
ty, N. Y., at the date of his marriage, and for
about two years thereafter, at Westchester Land-
ing, a hamlet at the head of tide-water navi-
gation, on the Bronx River. Here Mr. Cornell
and his brother, who had learned the trade of
ship carpentry, joined as partners in building a
vessel for the Atlantic coasting trade, which un-
fortunately was lost on its first voyage, and being
uninsured, proved a serious loss to its owners, who
had invested the greater portion of their savings
in its construction. Discouraged by this expe-
rience, Mr. Cornell abandoned further ventures in
navigation, and determined to change his residence
to what was then the Far West, and in 1807 re-
moved to the town of De Ruyter, Madison Coun-
ty, N. Y. Here he purchased and settled on a
farm, on what is now known as Crum Hill, about
three miles east of De Ruyter village.

It is not at all improbable, that in selecting
the location of his new home, Mr. Cornell was

QUAKER BASIN. 2$

influenced, to a considerable degree, by the fact
that within a short distance was an extensive
neighborhood of "Friends," numerous enough to
maintain a religious society of their own peculiar
faith. This portion of the town of De Ruyter,
acquired the designation of " Quaker Basin,"
from the circumstance that nearly all of the resi-
dents of that beautiful valley were Friends, and
although their numerical predominance in the
vicinity long since ceased, Quaker Basin still con-
tinues as a local geographical name.

Certain it is that the locality proved more sat-
isfactory, on account of its social and religious
associations, than as a profitable field of labor, for
after an experience of two years in pioneer life,
Mr. Cornell was induced to return to Westchester
County, and resume work at his trade. He en-
tered the employment of William Young & Co.,
at Westchester village, as foreman of their pot-
tery in April, 1810, at a compensation of $10 per
week, and his family joined him a few months
later. The following year he located at Tarry-
town, on the Hudson River, and was interested
in the same kind of business about four years,
after which he changed to West Farms, where he
was also employed at the potter's trade. In 1817
he removed to the State of New Jersey and set-
tled in Bergen County, and soon engaged in the

26 EZRA CORNELL.

manufacture of earthenware on his own account,
at what was then called the English Neighbor-
hood, not very far from the present beautiful and
thriving village of Englewood. Here he contin-
ued about three years, but owing to the depressed
condition of affairs after the close of the war with
England, and the severe competition in his line
of business, from the importation of English man-
ufactures, he sold out his pottery and determined
once more to try his fortunes in De Ruyter,
whither he returned with his family late in the
autumn of 1819.

CHAPTER II.

PIONEER LIFE.

A Winter Journey from New Jersey to De Ruyter. — Discomforts
of early Travel. — Contrast with present Facilities. — Pioneer
Life. — Primitive Agriculture.— Scarcity of Market. — Estab-
lishing a Pottery. — Advantages of diversified Industries. —
Removal to Ithaca, 1841. — Personal Characteristics. — Death
of Wife and Mother. — Severe Bereavement. — Christian Char-
acter.— Long and useful Life. — Large Number of worthy
Descendants.

THOSE of our own generation, familiar only with
existing modes of travel, can but faintly realize
the hardships encountered by families emigrating
to any considerable distance, with their house-
hold effects, in that, to us, remote period. At the
present day, the j'ourney from New York City to
Madison County, may be made in ten hours time,
with all the comforts and luxuries of the drawing-
room car by day, and the sleeping car by night.
It would have been utterly impossible for the pion-
eers of our then frontier region, to contemplate
with any degree of intelligence, even had they been
foretold by the most minute revelation, the wonders
of the modern development of railway facilities.

28 EZRA CORNELL.

At the period of the occurrence of incidents re-
lated in this chapter, the means of transit, in the
State of New York were very meagre. On the
Hudson River, steam navigation was in its infancy,
and the only mode of public conveyance through
the western portion of the State, was by stage-
coach across the older counties bordering on the
Mohawk Valley, and thence to Buffalo, a vil-
lage of moderate size, at the foot of Lake Erie.
The southern tier of counties, adjacent to Penn-
sylvania, were but sparsely populated, and no ac-
commodation for travel, had as yet been estab-
lished through them. The original Erie Canal,
was only then in course of construction, and was
not opened for traffic until several years later, while
the first railway in the State, was not yet even
projected. In removing his family from New Jer-
sey to Madison County, Mr. Cornell was obliged,
for want of other transportation, to make the
journey with his own teams, carrying also his
personal effects, household goods and provisions,
as well as many farming utensils, and implements
of his mechanical trade. Their course was, of
necessity, much of the way, through an almost
uninhabited wilderness, over the rudest and some-
times nearly impassable roads, frequently inter-
rupted by unbridged streams.

With so many obstacles to overcome, and at

A WINTER JOURNEY. 29

the slow pace of animals drawing lumber wag-
ons, loaded with the persons and possessions of
a family seeking a new home, it would indeed be
difficult for us to realize the tedium and positive
discomforts of such a journey. The route fol-
lowed, was along the Ramapo Valley, and, by
way of Goshen, through Orange County ; across
the Shawungunk range of mountains near the
present town of Otisville on the Erie Railway,
and over the Navesink River at the little ham-
let of Cuddebackville, about eight miles above the
site of the now prosperous village of Port Jervis,
which was then covered with a dense forest.
Thence through the great beech woods of Sul-
livan and Delaware Counties, crossing the Che-
nango Valley at Oxford, and over the bleak hills
of Chenango County, to the place of destination.
The travelling party consisted of Mr. Cornell,
his wife, and six children, the oldest only twelve
years old and the youngest an infant in its moth-
er's arms, and these, with their domestic goods,
constituted the burden of two ordinary teams.
For a portion of the distance, they were so fortu-
nate as to obtain entertainment over night, at pub-
lic inns or farm-houses, while through the more
secluded regions, they were obliged to content
themselves with the shelter of their own covered
vehicles, and the cheering hospitality of a camp-

30 EZRA CORNELL.

fire in the woods. In the cold, short, wintry days,
the journey thus made, covering a distance of
about two hundred and fifty miles, occupied some-
thing more than two weeks, a period of time suf-
ficient at the present day, to permit emigrants to
be conveyed from Great Britain, or the Continen-
tal ports of Europe, to Iowa and Minnesota, or
the frontier regions of the United States.

The contrast between the modes of travel in
1819, and those which we now enjoy, striking as
it may seem, is not greater than the difference
between the condition of pioneer farmers of the
former period, and those of the times with which
we are familiar. While through the older settled
portions of the country, the stage-coach furnished
means for the transit of passengers, there were
no public facilities for the conveyance of freight,
except over such natural water-courses as were
navigable. To find purchasers for surplus farm
products, the producer had necessarily to convey
them to a point of shipment, however distant it
might be.

Beyond the ordinary home consumption of such
articles, no market existed short of localities fa-
vored with water navigation. For the very mea-
gre growth which could be realized from the cold
and sterile hills of De Ruyter, there was no de-
mand which could be relied upon, more acces-

ESTABLISHING A POTTERY. 31

sible than at Albany, one hundred and fifty miles
distant, to which place the farmers of Madison
County, were often obliged to convey their grain
by teams. It may readily be imagined, therefore,
that the net avails of the small surplus of agri-
cultural products, after paying the expense of
transportation, were limited indeed. Mr. Cornell
determined to establish an earthenware pottery on
his farm, to enable him to furnish an article, which
would command a home market. The wares
of foreign- potteries, had not yet penetrated the
wilds of Madison and adjoining counties, and the
pioneer was fortunate enough to find ready sale
for the goods of his manufacture, thereby very
profitably supplementing the operations of the
farm. In the work of the shop, as well as that of
the field, he utilized the labor of his growing sons,
thus rearing them to habits of industry, and pre-
paring them for careers of usefulness and pros-
perity, when they should venture forth from the
paternal home.

Gradually the introduction of the celebrated
Amboy clay, from New Jersey, by water trans-
portation, enabled potteries located on the line of
the canal to produce stoneware at prices which
proved injurious to the sale of earthenware ; and
owing to the isolated location of De Ruyter, it
was found impossible to compete successfully

32 EZRA CORNELL.

with manufactories more favorably situated. Sev-
eral of his children having previously settled at
Ithaca, and desiring their parents to locate near
them, Mr. Cornell, in 1841, changed his resi-
dence to that place, where he established a new
pottery, for the production of both earthen and
stoneware.

This change was found advantageous, not only
on account of the added variety of product, but
also from the more extended market, which the
new location allowed him to supply. He contin-
ued the manufacture of both kinds of ware at
Ithaca, for about ten years, when, owing to ad-
vanced age, he was induced to dispose of his
property, and retire finally from active business
pursuits. The pottery thus inaugurated by him
at Ithaca, has been carried on by his successors
in business, and still remains one of the useful
and prosperous industries of the village, affording
remunerative employment for a considerable num-
ber of persons.

He continued to live at Ithaca until 1855, when,
with his wife and youngest daughter, the only one
of his children remaining at home, he removed
to Albion, Mich., where several of his daughters
were then residing near each other. Here the
declining years of their long and useful lives,
were spent in the enjoyment of the loyal and

FORTUNATE MARRIAGE. 33

grateful devotion of their thoughtful and affec-
tionate children.

In all that constitutes sturdy and upright man-
hood, Elijah Cornell was a worthy example. Be-
ginning life empty-handed, by industry and fru-
gality he was able to maintain in comfort and
contentment, a family of eleven children, giving
them the best opportunities for education which
the locality of his residence afforded, and training
them by precept and example, to habits of sobri-
ety and thrift, under the influence of which they
became prosperous and useful members of so-
ciety. He was a man of singular frankness and
simplicity of character ; of unquestioned integrity,
and faithful in the discharge of every duty and
obligation.

His house was ever the seat of graceful hos-
pitality, and the needy never went from his door,
without a generous response to all reasonable
appeals for assistance. Mr. Cornell's marriage
was, perhaps, the most fortunate event of his life.
His wife was a woman of a remarkable charac-
ter ; gentle and benevolent in disposition, with
a peculiar sweetness of manner, which won the
admiration and esteem of all with whom she be-
came associated. Domestic in her tastes and
habits ; amiable, patient, and cheerful at all times
and under all circumstances ; devoted to the dis-

3

34 EZRA CORNELL.

charge of home duties, she was in every respect
a model wife and mother, enjoying in the fullest
sense, the affection of her husband, and the love
and veneration of her children. An humble and
earnest Christian, she never tired in the service
of her Master.

To the sick, the poor, and the unfortunate, it was
her pleasure to minister with the kindness and
patience of a good Samaritan, and no worthy
call failed to receive her sympathetic attention.
After fifty-two years of happy married life, through
the whole course of which hers was the presiding
spirit of a peaceful, Christian home, she was called
to her rest, lamented and revered by a large circle
of loving and appreciative friends.

Her husband survived her five years, and died
March 27, 1862, having attained the remarkable
age, of ninety-one years, in the full possession
of his mental and physical faculties. Seldom, in-
deed, is it given to man to pass such number of
years, so absolutely free from enmities or antago-
nisms, and so universally respected and esteemed
by all who knew him.

It is, of course, impossible at this late day, to
place on record, more than a very brief outline of
the career of Elijah Cornell, which covered the
whole period of our national existence, down to
the second year of the late civil war. Born prior

WORTHY POSTERITY, 35

to the revolution, he was a voter at the second
election of Washington, as President of the United
States, and was in the full maturity of manhood
at the beginning of the present century. Like
the generality of members of his religious faith,
he took but little active part in the direction
of public affairs, and therefore no public record
affords intelligence respecting him. A quiet, un-
pretending, law-abiding citizen, engrossed in the
care and maintenance of a large family, he left
no written account of his daily walk and labors,
beyond that found in his family register.

The only source of information, therefore, avail-
able at the present day, especially in reference to
the earlier portion of his life, consists of such tra-
ditions of the family, as those now living, have
from time to time, incidentally acquired, and
treasured in their memories. From the sketch
herewith presented, it will be observed that his
children must have been reared in the path of
virtue and rectitude, and it is gratifying to record,
that, in subsequent life, they justified the expecta-
tion, which such training would naturally inspire.

The descendants of this worthy couple, at the
present time, number about one hundred and fif-
ty, already extending to the fifth generation, and
it can be truthfully stated that the family, in all
branches, are free from discredit, in all that per-

36 EZRA CORNELL.

tains to good citizenship, and independent self-
maintenance. It is also, a matter of especial con-
gratulation, that they are exempt, in a remarka-
ble degree, from the blight of intemperance, that
abominable curse, which has brought misfortune
and sorrow to so many families, that would other-
wise have been prosperous and happy.

Earnest and painstaking in the pursuit of knowl-
edge, they have shown commendable zeal in im-
proving every opportunity for education. Quite
a number have devoted themselves to teaching,
and several are members of the professions of
law, medicine, divinity, and the sciences. Where-
as but few of them have acquired large wealth,
many have become possessed of considerable
estates, and the rest are in thrifty and comforta-
ble circumstances, occupying creditable standing
in the communities in which they reside ; while
several have attained prominent and influential
positions in public life, and in the business affairs
of the country.

Although never in the enjoyment of any large
surplus of worldly wealth, Elijah Cornell was an
industrious and prosperous man, whose financial
condition, was quite equal to the average of his
neighbors. He was always able to maintain a
comfortable and cheerful home, from which his
children, ever reluctantly, went forth to establish

A HAPPY HOME. 37

themselves in independent life, but to which
they often returned, with feelings of gladness,
certain of being received with a cordial and affec-
tionate parental greeting. In the several places
of their residence, the family were highly respect-
ed and esteemed for their uprightness and genial
neighborly qualities.

CHAPTER III.

BIRTH, CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

Birth of Ezra Cornell, 1807. — Vigorous Constitution. — Obedient
Childhood. — Active and Studious. — Anxiety to attend School.
— Superior Scholarship. — Meagre Educational Advantages. —
Mechanical Tastes. — Assists building Pottery. — Erecting
Dwelling. — Surprising Success. — Ambition for Self-support. —
Seeking Employment. — Syracuse a mere Hamlet. — Employ-
ment at Homer. — Visiting Home. — Decides to locate at Ithaca.
— Early Advantages of the Village. — On Foot to Ithaca. —
Worthy Ambition.

OF all the worthy people assembled in Friends'
meeting, at New Britain, on that pleasant Sab-
bath summer morning, July 4, 1805, probably not
a single one contemplated, even in what might
have seemed the wildest realms of imagination,
the possibility of results which, down to the pres-
ent time, have actually been realized from the
marriage they were then called upon to witness,
of the staid bachelor, Elijah Cornell, already ap-
proaching middle age, and the young and gentle
maiden, Eunice Barnard. As related in the pre-
ceding chapter, the descendants of the couple then
united in the bonds of matrimony, number at this

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 39

time, 1884, more than one hundred and fifty per-
sons, all of whom, point with pride, to their com-
mon ancestry. The direct issue of this marriage
was the birth of eleven children, six sons and five
daughters, of whom all were reared to maturity,
and married.

The eldest of these children, and the subject of
this sketch, EZRA CORNELL, was born at West-
chester Landing, Westchester County, N. Y., Jan-
uary n, 1807. From his parents he inherited a
superb constitution, which, with his temperate
habits, enabled him to endure an unusual amount
of labor, and throughout his active life, he was
noted for the wonderful energy he devoted to the
accomplishment of whatever undertaking, he was
called upon to perform. In stature he was about
six feet high, rather spare in figure, with fine
muscular development. His features were rug-
ged, with high cheek-bones and prominent fore-
head, indicating marked alertness of the percep-
tive faculties. He was remarkably industrious
and never an idler, either as boy or man. While
fond of the ordinary sports of youth, and a leader
in those in which he engaged, his ingenious and
practical mind led him, even during boyhood, to
constant endeavor in an useful direction, such as
repairing some damaged article or devising a new
implement.

40 EZRA CORNELL.

Naturally of an inquiring turn of mind, young
Cornell early manifested an extraordinary desire
for the acquisition of knowledge. He was a de-
voted student, and eagerly availed himself of every
means for improvement within his reach. His
privileges in this respect, however, were extreme-
ly narrow, as, owing to the inability of his parents
to send him from home, in pursuit of an educa-
tion, he was obliged to content himself, with the
resources of the common school of the remote re-
gion of his residence, supplemented with such
additional instruction, as his father's accomplish-
ments qualified him to bestow.

As an evidence of the earnestness with which
he embraced every chance to secure a good edu-
cation, it may be related, that at the age of six-
teen, with the sole aid of his brother, who was one
year his junior, he undertook the chopping and
clearing of four acres of heavy beech and maple
woodland, plowing and planting it to corn, as the
condition of being permitted to attend school dur-
ing the winter term. This task was successfully
accomplished, and the privilege thus secured util-
ized to complete his preparation for active life.

His peculiar faculty of observation and reflec-
tion not infrequently aided him to prosecute par-
ticular lines of study far beyond the limit of
the teachers' capacity, thus placing him great-

YOUTH. 41

ly in advance of the average scholar, who en-
joyed the same facilities for instruction. The
ending of school-days did not, however, as is
too often the case, put a stop to farther effort for
mental cultivation. On the contrary, all spare
time throughout his entire life, was devoted to
reading and investigation.

Endowed with rare talent for mechanics, he im-
proved every opportunity, to pursue the studies
relating thereto. No science was too intricate for
his understanding, and in the years of maturity,
he sustained himself creditably in association with
those who had in early life enjoyed advantages
of education very much superior to those af-
forded him. After leaving school, the following
year was devoted to labor on the farm and in
the pottery. The next year his father decided
to build a more extensive manufactory, and en-
gaged a carpenter for the purpose. Ezra was
permitted to work on the job, and thus becom-
ing somewhat familiar with the use of tools, he
took a fancy to the carpenter's trade, as a means
of livelihood.

Upon the completion of the new building, with
the assistance, only, of his younger brother, he
cut from the forest, the necessary timber and
lumber, and erected for his father's family, a
two-story frame dwelling house, which, at the

42 EZRA CORNELL.

time of its construction, was the best residence
in the town of De Ruyter. Without previous
experience, or special knowledge of house build-
ing, except such as he had acquired in the
erection of the new pottery, and wholly without
instruction, or supervision by others, he planned
and framed the structure, so that every timber
went to its place without fault. When the young
builders, had so far progressed with their work,
as to be ready for putting up the frame, the cus-
tomary invitation was given to the neighbors to
assist at the raising, which was responded to with
unusual alacrity, on account of the novelty of the
youthful architect. Much surprise was manifested
by the veterans in building, who were present, at
the perfection of the work, and the correctness
with which every mortise and tenon fitted to its
place.

This achievement, by a boy of seventeen was
the wonder of the neighborhood, and won for
him an enviable reputation for practical ability
and usefulness. His success as a master builder
aroused an ambition to establish himself on an in-
dependent and self-supporting basis. Work on
the farm, and in the pottery, had no further at-
tractions for him, and under his new resolve, at
the age of eighteen, he sallied forth from the pa-
rental roof in quest of business.

EARLY OCCUPATION. 43

He did not readily find occupation at the car-
penter's trade, but, willing to try his hand at any
useful work, he soon found employment in Onon-
daga County, where, in the vicinity of Syracuse,
then but an insignificant hamlet, he was engaged
nearly two years in getting out timber for ship-
ment by canal to the city of New York. He then
went to Homer, in Cortland County, where he was
employed one year, in the machine shop of Wil-
liam Turner, in making wool-carding machinery.
While engaged at Homer, which was about twen-
ty miles from De Ruyter, he was accustomed to
make frequent visits to his father's family, going
home Saturday evening and returning to his
work, on Monday morning following. In good
weather and fair travelling, these visits were gen-
erally made on foot.

Having completed his engagement at Homer,
and hearing some favorable account of the outlook
for business at Ithaca, Mr. Cornell was thereby
induced to proceed thither in search of employment.
His mission in this respect was successful, and
that place, thereafter, became the home of his life.
Ithaca was then a small village, and, from its
location at the head of Cayuga Lake, through
which, it had already been placed in direct com-
munication with the Erie Canal so recently com-
pleted, was just beginning to enjoy the advantages

44 EZRA CORNELL.

of its position, as a shipping point for a large
range of country. No railroads had yet been con-
structed, and Ithaca was the most eligible point
connected with water navigation, for the southern
counties of New York, and the adjoining por-
tion of Pennsylvania.

The whole space of country, from Bingham-
ton to Painted Post, and as far south as Towanda,
in Pennsylvania, was thus rendered tributary to
the prosperity of Ithaca. Hundreds of teams
were constantly employed in hauling lumber and
grain to Ithaca, for shipment to eastern markets,
returning loaded with salt, plaster, and merchan-
dise for the use of the inhabitants in the extended
region above described. A small settlement, com-
prising some three families, had located on the
site of the present village as early as 1789,
but it continued a mere hamlet until about the
year 1800, when Ithaca was practically founded,
by the late General Simeon DeWitt, for many
years Surveyor-General of the State, who, at-
tracted by the romantic scenery and natural beauty
of its surroundings, acquired title to a large tract of
land, which he laid out as a town site, and gave
to it the classical name which it has ever since so
worthily borne.

A post-office was established in 1804, and, un-
der the interested patronage of General DeWitt,

ITHACA. 45

through whose influence a number of prominent
families were induced to locate in the embryo vil-
lage, Ithaca soon became a growing place, having
at the time of Mr. Cornell's advent attained a
population of about two thousand, and was en-
joying the benefit of a thriving trade from the
large territory dependent upon it for communica-
tion with the principal markets of the country.
With a spare suit of clothes, and a few dollars in
his pocket, the earnings of his previous labors,
Ezra Cornell entered Ithaca on foot, having walked
from his father's house in De Ruyter, a distance
of about forty miles. He had chosen to make the
journey thus, not only for the purpose of saving
the expense of riding, but also for the pleasure he
enjoyed in walking. With him, pedestrianism was
throughout life, one of the highest sources of
enjoyment, and in any ordinary trip, he usually
preferred walking to any other means of transit.
He could travel forty miles per day, with perfect
ease, and follow it up from day to day.

In this manner came the man who was destined
to identify himself with the place of his adoption
as a home, with such effect that the names of
ITHACA, and CORNELL, should be made familiar to
the whole civilized world. Without a single ac-
quaintance in the village, and with no introduction
or certificate of character, in any form, except such

46 EZRA CORNELL.

as he could offer in his own behalf, he arrived
at Ithaca, with youth, courage, and ambition as
capital stock, determined by his own exertions to
earn a living, and establish himself on a perma-
nent and prosperous basis. This was his purpose,
and no ordinary obstacle was to be permitted to
turn him from the line of action thus marked
out for himself. How well he succeeded in ac-
complishing the task undertaken, can be gathered
from the story of his subsequent career — a record
which may be studied with advantage by every
young man who has to conquer a place in the
world by his own exertions.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY MANHOOD.

Employment at Ithaca, 1828. — Ira Tillotson. — Bloodgood House.
— Baptist Church. — Otis Eddy. — Cotton Factory. — Repairing
Beebe's Mill. — Continued Employment with Colonel Beebe,
1829 to 1841. — Mechanical Skill. — Fall Creek Tunnel. — Bee-
be Dam. — Lifelong Friendship with Colonel Beebe. — Im-
proving Schools. — Influence in Local Affairs. — Political Ac-
tion.— Hard Cider Campaign. — " Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
— Death of President Harrison. — Loss of Employment. —
Looking Abroad.

ALMOST immediately after his arrival at Ithaca, in
April, 1828, Mr. Cornell succeeded in securing
engagement as a carpenter, and by good work-
manship and strict attention to the interests com-
mitted to him, he was not long in gaining an
enviable repute, as an industrious and painstak-
ing mechanic, thus insuring his continued and
satisfactory occupation. Mr. Ira Tillotson, then
a prominent and influential citizen of Ithaca, who
was a master-builder, enjoying an extensive pat-
ronage in that line of business, was his employer,
and his first labor in Ithaca was in the construc-
tion of a dwelling-house, situated at the corner

48 EZRA CORNELL.

of Geneva and Clinton Streets, which has, now
for many years, been the residence of the Blood-
good family. He was next engaged in the erec-
tion of the Baptist Church building, fronting on
the east side of the DeWitt Park, and which was
afterward, about the year 1853, destroyed by fire.
Within a few weeks of his location at Ithaca
he was offered a situation by Mr. Otis Eddy—
the proprietor of an extensive cotton manufactory,
occupying the site of the present Cascadilla Place
building — who was in need of the services of a
person competent to keep his mill and machinery
in suitable condition for operation. Mr. Cornell's
experience during the preceding year, at the
Homer machine-shop, had been a valuable prepa-
ration in qualifying him to fulfil the requirements
of his new position, which he was able to meet
so satisfactorily as to result in his continuance in
Mr. Eddy's employment for more than a year.
Mr. Jeremiah S. Beebe, proprietor of the flour-
ing and plaster mills at Fall Creek, near the village
of Ithaca, was about this time in want of the ser-
vices of a millwright, to overhaul and repair his
mills ; but having been unable to find an artisan
skilled in that particular branch of mechanism, and
hearing of Mr. Cornell as an ingenious and versa-
tile workman, he applied to Mr. Eddy for permis-
sion to engage the young man for the purpose

PROMOTION. 49

named, which was granted in true neighborly
spirit.

Although Mr. Cornell was quite unfamiliar
with work of the kind which was required, his
practical intelligence aided him to successfully
accomplish the desired task ; and such was the
satisfaction of his employer, that the engage-
ment, which was of the most incidental and tem-
porary character, as contemplated by both parties
in the beginning, proved to be permanent ; and
was continued without interruption more than
twelve years, extending from 1829 to 1841, and
was only brought to a close by the retirement of
Colonel Beebe from active pursuits. Engaged
at first only as a mechanic, Mr. Cornell's duties
were gradually modified and enlarged in impor-
tance, until he finally became the confidential
agent and general manager of Colonel Beebe, in
the transaction of his extensive affairs at Fall
Creek, which involved the disbursement of hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars annually, and for
many years the business was almost as complete-
ly under Mr. Cornell's control and discretion as it
would have been were he the proprietor of the
entire establishment.

With an especial adaptation to the science of
mechanics, both theoretically and practically, and
having rendered himself thoroughly familiar with

50 EZRA CORNELL.

the operation of the mills, in all of its interesting
details, Mr. Cornell was able to devise and intro-
duce into successful use, many valuable mechani-
cal improvements, and to utilize various plans for
economizing the methods of manufacture. He was
especially fertile and ingenious in planning and per-
fecting labor-saving appliances of many kinds,
by which the current expenses of the establish-
ment were very materially reduced ; and his thor-
ough system of business enabled him to realize
the best results in marketing the products of the
mills. Under his management, the success of the
enterprise induced the proprietor to erect a new
flouring mill of largely increased capacity. The
mill was planned by, and built under the exclusive
supervision and direction of Mr. Cornell, and, for
excellence and economy of construction, the ad-
mirable character of mechanical devices and ar-
rangements, as well as for the superiority of prac-
tical operations, it was unexcelled and perhaps
unequalled in the entire State.

At the beginning of Mr. Cornell's connection
with them, the Fall Creek mills — not only those of
Colonel Beebe, but also the paper-mills occupy-
ing the adjoining mill-sites — were supplied with
power by water brought from the head of the
great falls through a wooden race-way, or flume,
attached to the overhanging wall of rock, on the

THE TUNNEL. 5 1

south side of the creek. Even under the most
favorable circumstances the maintenance of such a
structure is a matter of continual expense. In this
instance, the annual expenditure was considera-
bly enhanced by reason of the exposed situation
and the danger to life and limb, incident to the care
and repair of the flume. The liability of interrup-
tion to the flow of water by ice, was also, fre-
quently the cause of serious annoyance in winter.

To remedy these difficulties, Mr. Cornell pro-
posed the plan of excavating a tunnel through the
solid rock, a distance of several hundred feet, so
as to convey the water, by an uninterrupted flow,
over a rocky bed, from the channel of the creek
above the falls, directly to the mills, thus whol-
ly dispensing with the wooden structure. The
mill-owners, though at first somewhat skeptical as
to the success of the project, were finally con-
vinced of its entire practicability, and were thereby
induced to provide the necessary means, with
which the work should be executed. Mr. Cornell
was thereupon duly installed as engineer-in-chief
of the undertaking, although without previous ex-
perience and quite unacquainted with work of the
character projected.

The excavation was begun and prosecuted from
each end, and such was the correctness of cal-
culations, that when the opening was made in

52 EZRA CORNELL.

the centre, between the two sections of the tunnel,
it was found that the variation was less than two
inches from an exact line. The enterprise was
successfully completed at a cost considerably
within the estimates originally made, and was put
into practical use, to the great advantage of
the mill privileges dependent upon this particular
supply of water. This important improvement,
finished in 1831, has for more than fifty years,
admirably served the purpose for which it was
designed, and still continues in operation with un-
impaired usefulness, a lasting monument to the
wisdom and foresight of its projector, and the en-
terprise of the proprietors who ventured the in-
vestment.

The tunnel has already entered upon the sec-
ond half of the first century of its existence, and
so far, without apparent depreciation, thus giving
promise of serving future generations quite as
usefully. It would be difficult, and indeed quite
impossible, to make any definite estimate of the
money value of this work ; but aside from the
material advantage of freedom from interruption
in the supply of water, it cannot be doubted that
the cost of opening the tunnel has been saved
many times, over and again, by abandoning the
wooden flume, with its constant burden of expense
for maintenance and renewals.

FALL CREEK SCENERY. 53

The wild and romantic features of the gorge
and cataracts of Fall Creek, have ever been a
source of attraction for strangers visiting Ithaca,
of whom thousands annually seek and clamber
along its rugged banks. No part of the bold and
weird scenery is more interesting than the "Tun-
nel," which, however, long since ceased to be re-
garded or spoken of as the work of man, but by
casual visitors is considered, simply, as part of
the Fall Creek wonders, and without stopping to
inquire, they take it for granted that it is the
work of the Great Architect who designed the
adjoining cataract. Another very important step
for improving the Fall Creek water-power, was
the construction of a stone dam, on the stream
about three-quarters of a mile above the tunnel,
by which a reservoir, covering an area of some
twenty acres, was created for the retention of
the surplus water of the creek. This work also
was constructed under the supervision of Mr.
Cornell, in 1838, and has ever since been known
as the Beebe Dam.

In addition to his milling interests, Colonel Bee-
be was the senior partner of the firm of Beebe,
Munn, & Mack, merchants engaged in general
trade at Ithaca, and doing an extensive busi-
ness. With his time largely occupied in the con-
duct of his mercantile affairs, and in the care

54 EZRA CORNELL.

of an invalid wife, to whom he was tenderly at-
tached, it was quite natural that the management
of the milling business should have been left
largely to the direction of Mr. Cornell, who had
already proved himself abundantly qualified for
its successful prosecution. Colonel Beebe was a
man of peculiar temperament, impulsive but gen-
erous to a degree, and he soon learned to repose
the fullest confidence in the fidelity and wise dis-
cretion of his manager.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the earnest
and faithful manner in which Mr. Cornell devoted
himself to the interest of his employer throughout
his prolonged term of service, should have been
the means of establishing between them a cor-
dial and sincere friendship, which was continued
without interruption until terminated by the death
of the latter, covering altogether, a period of more
than thirty years. In the later years of Colonel
Beebe's life, when he had suffered financial re-
verses and was in sore need, this friendship
served him a good purpose, as it was Mr. Cornell's
privilege to be able to furnish employment to
his former patron, and in many ways to smooth
the pathway of his declining years.

Though but just past his majority at the pe-
riod of the commencement of his residence at
Fall Creek, Mr. Cornell, by intelligent and well-

POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 55

directed participation in public affairs, very soon
gained an influential position in the community,
which was continually augmented as the years
passed by. Enterprising and public-spirited, he
took an active part in support of all measures,
calculated to advance the interests of the village.
He was especially active in improving the ed-
ucational facilities of the place, and was largely
instrumental in placing them upon a higher and
constantly ascending grade. Through his influ-
ence, a local school was established at Fall Creek,
which, under the direction of able teachers, speed-
ily became an important factor in the intellectual
development of the rising generation.

In the political divisions of the day, Mr. Cornell
was an ardent Whig, and in the local counsels of
that party, he exercised a potent influence. He
was a devoted friend and admirer of William H.
Seward, and in the several campaigns in which
that gentleman was the candidate of his party for
Governor, he labored zealously for the promotion
of his friend. In the celebrated hard-cider and
log-cabin campaign of 1840, he applied himself
with great earnestness to the support of "Tippe-
canoe and Tyler too."

The sudden and lamented death of General
Harrison, so soon after his elevation to the Presi-
dency, and the speedy alienation of the acting

56 EZRA CORNELL.

President from the great bulk of the party, which
had so vigorously supported the successful candi-
dates, were to Mr. Cornell, as to so many other ac-
tive young Whigs, a terrible loss and sore disap-
pointment, which resulted in greatly cooling his
political ardor. Although continuing his asso-
ciation with the Whig party, and subsequently
with the Republican party, he was never after-
ward able to arouse himself to the political enthu-
siasm of the great hard-cider campaign.

The withdrawal of Colonel Beebe from active
business, and the conversion of the mill property
into a woollen factory, left Mr. Cornell without em-
ployment, and owing to the depressed condition
of financial affairs at the time, he did not readily
find other occupation. While to a man of less
energy and force of character, such a circumstance
might prove a serious misfortune, in his case it
proved to be the turning-point in his life, which,
being advantageously utilized, led him to both
fame and fortune. Had the milling business been
continued without interruption, whether by Colonel
Beebe or by others, the probability is that Mr.
Cornell would have remained as its manager, and,
very likely, he would have ended his life in that
service.

It is a common saying, that, what seems a mis-
fortune often proves to be really a blessing in dis-

OUT OF EMPLOYMENT. S7

guise, and thus it certainly happened in this case.
To be suddenly thrown out of a position to
which one had long been accustomed, and partic-
ularly where a young and helpless family was
dependent on the daily earnings of its head, the
situation was serious. When, added to all this,
was the fact that other employment could not be
found, and the question of daily bread threatened
soon to present itself for solution, the gravity of
the case was largely enhanced.

Such were the circumstances in which Mr. Cor-
nell found himself placed in 1841. Fortunately
for him and his family, and especially fortunate for
the future growth and prosperity of Ithaca, he
was forced to seek elsewhere opportunity for busi-
ness ; and, by a curious combination of circum-
stances, he was thrown into contact with the men
who were just then casting about with the infant
telegraph in their keeping, quite at a loss to know
how to utilize the grand instrumentality, which
was destined to revolutionize the social and com-
mercial customs of the entire civilized world.
Mr. Cornell's quick practical comprehension en-
abled him to solve the question which was puz-
zling these wise men as to the proper mode of con-
structing the telegraph lines, and he speedily
made himself indispensable to the development
of the new enterprise. At the age of thirty-six,

58 EZRA CORNELL.

he thus stepped forth from the narrow path he had
previously trod, and with but little delay entered
upon a career, which was not only a grand suc-
cess for himself, but equally beneficial to the
country at large.

CHAPTER V.

MARRIAGE.

Elijah Cornell and Benjamin Wood. — A prolonged Friendship. —
Notable Visit. — " Woodlawn." — Mary Ann Wood Born, 1811.
— Marriage Engagement. — Married, March 19, 1831. — House-
keeping.— Early Home. — Nine Children, of whom five Sur-
vive.— Quaker Discipline. — Telegraph Enterprise. — Absence
from Home. — Success in Business. — " Forest Park." — Do-
mestic Felicity.

DURING the period of his first residence in De
Ruyter, Elijah Cornell was engaged during the
winter seasons in teaching the district school in
Quaker Basin. Among the older boys in attend-
ance at the school in 1808, was one who, by
manly qualities and respectful deportment, as well
as by earnest efforts to improve the educational
advantages thus offered, won the especial regard
and confidence of his teacher. This favorite pupil
was Benjamin Wood, whose parents had, a few
years earlier, emigrated from the State of Rhode
Island. The acquaintance then begun between
the teacher and scholar, ripened into a mutual
friendship which was continued without interrup-

60 EZRA CORNELL.

tion throughout the remainder of their lives, and
it became in after years their custom to visit each
other, whenever circumstances brought either of
them within the vicinity of the other's place of
residence.

On one occasion, when at Ithaca on a business
trip, Mr. Cornell invited his son Ezra to accom-
pany him on a visit to the home of his friend
Mr. Wood, who had some years previously lo-
cated in the town of Dryden, Tompkins County,
distant some six miles from Ithaca. This chance
visit, which occurred in the third year of his
employment at Ithaca, was destined to exert an
important influence in all of the future course of
the young man, as it was the beginning of his
acquaintance with the young lady, who was to
become the partner of his domestic life. Mr.
Wood's second daughter, Mary Ann, was then
nineteen years of age, and it was by no means
strange that an attachment of more than passing
interest was soon formed between her and the son
of her father's friend, which, ere long, resulted in
a marriage engagement. Both families were grat-
ified with the proposed alliance, and the old-time
friendship was rendered still more cordial and in-
timate.

Benjamin Wood was a native of Scituate, Prov-
idence County, R. I., where he was born October

BENJAMIN WOOD. 6 1

14, 1789. He was a son of Nathan Wood, and
the maiden name of his mother was Amy Ham-
mond. In youth he had been bred to the trade
of reed making, and was an expert mechanic.
In those days — before the advent of the great
woollen and cotton factories — the weaver's reed
was in demand in almost every well-regulated
farmer's household, where the home-grown wool
was converted into cloth and blankets for domestic
use. Mr. Wood was united in marriage at De
Ruyter, June 12, 1808, to Mary, daughter of Philip
Bonesteel and Elizabeth Ray. She was born at
Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y., October 2.
1790. The young couple continued to reside in
DeRuyter some five years after their marriage,
when they removed to the husband's native place
in Rhode Island, and there remained two or
three years.

Finding the change unsatisfactory, the family
returned to the State of New York, and after
spending two years in the town of Sherburne,
Chenango County, they located at Willow Glen,
near Dry den Village, in Tompkins County, where
they also resided about two years. In 1819
Mr. Wood contracted for the purchase of a tract
of land in the western portion of the town of
Dryden, and determined to make it his permanent
home. This land was then covered with a heavy

62 EZRA CORNELL.

pine forest, which with his own hand he cleared,
and brought into cultivation a farm, that, under
his energetic and thrifty management, became one
of the most desirable homesteads in the county.
He afterward established on the place a manufac-
tory for the production of weavers' reeds, which
proved a profitable accompaniment to his agricul-
tural pursuits, furnishing as it did favorable occu-
pation for the intervals of other work.

At the period of his settlement on the " Wood-
lawn " farm, as the estate is now widely known,
Mr. Wood's worldly possessions consisted prin-
cipally of the tools of his trade, and a very mod-
erate equipment of household furniture and
personal effects. Purchasing his land on credit,
by industry and frugality he was enabled to pay
for his property, and to support, and educate in
superior manner, a family of eleven children, and to
improve and maintain a home which, during all
of his life-time, was the pride of his family. Acting
on the maxim that a thing worth doing should be
well done, he was in all of his farming operations
enterprising and painstaking. His buildings and
fences were uniformly in good repair, and his fields
demonstrated excellent tillage.

In every relation of life — as a citizen, as a neigh-
bor, and also in his family — Benjamin Wood was
universally esteemed. It is entirely within bounds

MARY ANN WOOD. 63

to state that no man ever lived in the town of
Dryden, who was more generally respected, or
more completely enjoyed the confidence and good
will of the community. In business affairs he
was prudent, orderly, and thoroughly reliable,
while with all with whom he had dealings his
word was equal to his bond. He was the best of
husbands, and no father was ever more devotedly
loved and reverenced by a family of children. Mr.
Wood after only a very brief illness, entered his
final rest at Woodlawn, May 16, 1858, at the age
of sixty-eight years and seven months. His wife
survived him nearly twenty years, ten of which
she continued to reside at Woodlawn. During
the last ten years of her life, she made her home
with her youngest daughter, at Ithaca, where she
died, February 20, 1878, at the mature age of
eighty-seven. Eminently domestic in her tastes
and habits, she was regarded with tenderest affec-
tion by her husband and family.

Children to the number of eleven, of whom
seven were daughters and four sons, resulted from
the matrimonial union of Benjamin and Mary
Wood. All of them lived to reach the age of ma-
turity. The second daughter, Mary Ann, was
born at De Ruyter, Madison County, N. Y., April
25, 1811. She was eight years of age when her
parents located at Woodlawn, and although she

64 EZRA CORNELL.

had taken lessons both at Sherburne and at Wil-
low Glen, the most of her education was acquired
at the district school in the Snyder neighbor-
hood. It was during her attendance at this place,
that the now venerable-appearing octagonal brick
school-house was erected and first occupied. For
several years she and her elder sister, Almira,
were permitted to attend school only on alter-
nate weeks — one of them being required to assist
their mother in the discharge of her domestic
duties.

In conformity with their engagement, the mar-
riage of Ezra Cornell and Mary Ann Wood was
celebrated at " Woodlawn," the homestead of
Benjamin Wood in the town of Dryden, Tomp-
kins County, N. Y., March 19, 1831. Mr. Cornell
was then in the second year of his employment
with Colonel Beebe at the Fall Creek mills. The
wedded pair boarded a few months at the hotel
at Fall Creek, until their house was prepared for
occupation. Mr. Cornell purchased a plot of sev-
eral acres just north of the mills, on which he
built a dwelling, where they began housekeeping
during the summer after marriage. This con-
tinued to be their home for more than twenty
years, and it was here that their nine children
were born. Of these, three sons died in infancy,
and the eldest daughter, a beautiful and interest-

QUAKER DISCIPLINE. 65

ing girl, died at the age of fifteen. Three sons
and two daughters were raised to mature years.

Until his marriage, Ezra Cornell, both from his
own inclination and the influence of his parents,
always identified himself with the religious asso-
ciations of his ancestry, and was a regular atten-
dant at the Friends' meetings when in their vicin-
ity. There was no organization of this kind at
Ithaca, but ever on his return to De Ruyter, he
was prompt in attendance. Having married a
wife who was not a member, his case was taken
into consideration by the church society at De
Ruyter, and he was by them formally excommu-
nicated for this offence. It was, however, intima-
ted that in case he should apologize for having
thus offended, and express proper regret there-
for, he would receive pardon and be reinstated.
This he declined to do, and therefore continued
under the ban of condemnation. He had been
too well grounded in the faith of his fathers, to be
thus cast away, and so was always firm in his
belief and sympathy. In intercourse with his
parents and with members of the sect, he was
careful at all times to use the phrases of address
customary with Friends, and though he seldom
conversed on the subject, it was in many ways
manifest that he remained throughout his entire
life, a faithful and consistent disciple of the Friends'

5

66 EZRA CORNELL.

religious creed. He believed that it was a question
between him and his Heavenly Father, and that
no body of men and women, could say that he
should not commune with his Maker in accord-
ance with his convictions.

The first ten years of married life with the
young people, passed without unusual incident.
Mr. Cornell continued in the service of Colonel
Beebe, and took much interest at leisure intervals
in improving his home, and by the cultivation
of choice fruit. The diversion of Fall Creek mills
to other uses in 1841, deprived Mr. Cornell of
his vocation, and on account of the dull times
then prevailing, he was unable to find satisfactory
employment at home. He was therefore obliged
to seek business abroad, in which, after some
serious discouragements, he was successful be-
yond all expectation.

He became interested in the introduction and
development of the Magnetic Telegraph, which
for the dozen years following, required him to be
absent from home a large portion of the time. His
family retained their residence at their original
homestead until 1852, when they removed into the
village of Ithaca, and there resided until 1857.
In the latter year, Mr. Cornell, having withdrawn
from the active management of his telegraph in-
terests, purchased the "Forest Park" property,

DOMESTIC FELICITY. 67

and here established a new homestead. He ac-
quired nearly three hundred acres of land adjoin-
ing, and for several years took great pleasure in
the building up of a fine herd of short-horn cattle.
A few years later, upon the organization of the
Cornell University, he donated the principal por-
tion of this beautiful farm to that institution, re-
taining only some twenty- five acres for his own
use.

The dwelling-house at Forest Park not fully
meeting the demands of modern times, Mr. Cornell
determined to erect a new one as a permanent
family residence. Pending the construction of
this edifice, he found it convenient to reside in
the village of Ithaca, occupying the large brick
dwelling at the corner of Tioga and Seneca Streets,
opposite the Cornell Library. This was his home
from the spring of 1869, until his death, which
occurred in this house in December, 1874.

Rarely does it happen to man to find more
perfect satisfaction in his marital relations, than
Mr. Cornell enjoyed, during the more than forty
years of his married life. Often and again he has
been heard to attribute his prosperity in life, to the
assistance and encouragement which he received
from his wife. In the early days, she was the
companion of his joys and sorrows, while in the
years of his great struggle with fortune, she was

68 EZRA CORNELL.

the inspiring spirit at home, in the care of his
young family, ever faithful, ever patient and cheer-
ful, with firm confidence in his final and complete
success. Thus sustained at home, with high hope
he labored on, until after long toil and struggle,
he was enabled to triumph over obstacles which
sometimes seemed almost insurmountable, and
finally to retire from active business with a for-
tune far greater than he had ever hoped for. Nor
was he more loyally supported by his wife, in the
building up of his great fortune, than in the devo-
tion of a large proportion of it to the noble in-
stitutions of learning he founded, which will carry
his name with undiminished lustre, to a long line
of future generations.

CHAPTER VI.

SEEKING BUSINESS.

Financial Crisis, 1837. — Business Prostration. — Out of Employ-
ment.— Barnaby and Mooers' Patent Plow. — Trip to Maine,
1842. — Hon. F. O. J. Smith. — First Acquaintance. — Visits
Georgia. — Fifteen Hundred Miles on Foot. — Return Home. —
Second Visit to Maine. — Renewal of Acquaintance. — A Pecu-
liar Machine Wanted. — The Telegraph. — A New Invention.
— First Meeting with Professor Morse. — Successful Experi-
ment.— Engagement in Telegraph Enterprise. — Proceeds to
New York. — Criticising Imperfect Pipe. — Warning Unheeded.

THE great monetary crisis of 1836-37, will long
be remembered in consequence of the wide-spread
disaster visited upon commercial activities through-
out the entire country. While the violence of
the financial storm gradually subsided, it was fol-
lowed by a paralysis of industrial interests, which
continued for several years. Labor was in slight
demand, and consequently every avenue to em-
ployment was crowded with applicants. Such
was the condition of affairs in 1841, when, by the
retirement of Colonel Beebe from milling opera-
tions at Fall Creek, Mr. Cornell found himself
without occupation.

70 EZRA CORNELL.

For some months he endeavored to find new
business, but without satisfactory results, and, as
an alternative, he purchased from his neighbors,
Messrs. Barnaby & Mooers, the patent rights for
the States of Maine and Georgia, of an improved
plow which they had recently invented, and de-
termined to visit those States, for the purpose of
selling the interests thus acquired. Mr. Cornell,
therefore, in 1842, proceeded to Maine, with the
object of introducing the new invention to the
farmers of that State, and, as a preliminary, sought
the acquaintance of the editor of the Maine Farm-
er, an agricultural paper of considerable influence,
then published at Portland, presuming that fav-
orable notice therein would be his best intro-
duction to the more intelligent citizens. The
editor and publisher of this paper proved to be
the Hon. Francis O. J. Smith, then a member of
Congress from the Portland district, and a man
of much influence in the State of Maine. Con-
vinced of its merits, Mr. Smith became a ready
advocate of the new plow, and strongly com-
mended it to the attention of his readers. Very
cordial relations were speedily established between
Mr. Cornell, and the editor of the Maine Farmer,
and the office of that paper, became the head-
quarters of the stranger, during the several months
of his tarry in the State.

VISITS GEORGIA. T\

In the autumn of the same year, Mr. Cornell,
went to Georgia, with the purpose of interesting
the agriculturists of that State in the use of
the new plow. At that time the facilities for
travel in the Southern States, were very meagre,
there being no railroads and the stages were quite
primitive. From Washington to Augusta, Ga.,
he proceeded on foot, making an average of
forty miles each day. He travelled in like man-
ner, largely through Georgia, and as far as Wash-
ington on his return, making a distance of about
fifteen hundred miles. He had a threefold object
in determining upon this mode of travelling ;
first, economy ; second, that he could choose his
own route ; and third, that walking was ever to
him a pleasure and privilege. He was not much
encouraged by the reception that was accorded to
his presentation of the plow in the South, and re-
turned home without having accomplished any-
thing satisfactory in that region.

After spending a few months at home with his
family, Mr. Cornell, in July, 1843, proceeded again
to Maine, to close up the plow interests in that
State, which he had left uncompleted the preceding
year. This journey also, was made on foot from
Ithaca to Albany, covering the distance of one hun-
dred and sixty miles in four days. From Albany
he travelled by railway to Boston, thence on foot

72 EZRA CORNELL.

to Portland, one hundred miles in two and a half
days. In writing of this trip he said: " Travelling
on foot has always been a source of great enjoy-
ment to me. If I had the time to spend in pleas-
ure travel, I should prefer to walk if I could make
satisfactory arrangement for the transit of my
baggage. Nature can in no way be so rationally
enjoyed, as through the opportunities afforded the
pedestrian."

On arrival at Portland, he lost no time in calling
at the office of the Maine Farmer, to renew his
acquaintance with the Hon. F. O. J. Smith. As
the circumstances which followed this visit, re-
sulted in establishing Mr. Cornell's permanent
connection with the telegraph enterprise, it will
be interesting to quote from his own description
of the interview, which he afterward wrote in his
memorandum book. He says: " I found Smith
on his knees in the middle of his office floor with
a piece of chalk in his hand, the mold-board of a
plow lying by his side, and with various chalk-
marks on the floor before him. He was earnestly
engaged in trying to explain some plan or idea of
his own to a plow manufacturer, who stood look-
ing on with his good-natured face enveloped in a
broad grin that denoted his skepticism in refer-
ence to Smith's plans. On my entrance, Mr.
Smith arose, and grasping me cordially by the

NEW MACHINE WANTED. 73

hand, said : ' Cornell, you are the very man I
wanted to see. I have been trying to explain to
neighbor Robertson, a machine that I want made,
but I cannot make him understand it,' and pro-
ceeding, he explained that he wanted ' a kind of
scraper, or machine for digging a ditch, that will
leave the dirt deposited on each side, convenient
to be used for filling the ditch by means of another
machine. It is for laying our telegraph pipe un-
derground. The ditch must be two feet deep, and
wide enough to enable us to lay the pipe in the
bottom, and then cover it with the earth. Con-
gress has appropriated $30,000 to enable Profes-
sor Morse to test the practicability of his tele-
graph on a line between Washington and Balti-
more. I have taken the contract to lay the pipe
at $100 per mile, and must have some kind of a
machine to enable me to do the work at any such
price.'

" An examination of a specimen of the pipe
to be laid, which Mr. Smith showed us, and a
little reflection, convinced me that he did not want
two machines, as he said, one to excavate, and the
other to fill the trench after the pipe was depos-
ited. I, therefore, with my pencil sketched a rough
diagram of a machine that seemed to me adapted
to his necessities. It provided that the pipe, with
the wires enclosed therein, was to be coiled around

74 EZRA CORNELL.

a drum or reel, from whence it was to pass down
through a hollow standard, protected by shives,
directly in the rear of a coulter or cutter, which
was so arranged as to cut a furrow two and a half
feet deep and one and one-fourth inch wide. Ar-
ranged something like a plow, it was to be drawn
by a powerful team, and to deposit the pipe in
the bottom of the furrow, as it moved along. The
furrow beinij so narrow would soon close itself

o

and conceal the pipe from view.

" Mr. Smith examined the diagram and listened
to my explanation, but could not see how it would
work. I was entirely convinced of the practical
working of the plan and so insisted. The day
was spent in discussing the various objections
raised by Mr. Smith, and we finally separated for
the night, with his doubts as firm as ever. Upon
coming together again in the morning, he was still
more an unbeliever, while my confidence had
greatly increased, as the result of my reflection.
He finally, however, without much confidence or
hope of success, proposed that I should construct
a machine in accordance with my plan. He said :
' I will pay the expense, whether successful or not,
and if successful, I will pay you $50, or $100, or
any other price you may name. The price is a
matter of no consequence if the machine is suc-
cessful.'

PROFESSOR MORSE. 75

" I finally engaged to build the proposed ma-
chine, and commenced work at once in a machine-
shop in which Smith obtained permission for me
to work. I made the patterns for the necessary
castings, and while these and the other iron work

o /

were being made, I employed my time in making
the wood-work for the frame. As the work pro-
gressed, Smith's confidence in its success rose to
a point which induced him to write to Professor
Morse in New York, and invite him to witness
the trial of the machine. The invitation was ac-
cepted, and the Professor arrived about the time
we had completed our work. He visited the shop
and inspected the machine, and expressed satis-
faction with its appearance. This was the begin-
ning of my personal acquaintance with Professor
Morse.

"The machine was finally completed on the
1 7th of August, 1843, and, on the igth, we made
a successful trial of it on the homestead farm of
Mr. Smith, at Westbrook, a few miles north of
Portland. The trial was made with a team con-
sisting of four yoke of oxen, brought together for
the occasion, and quite unused to work together.
They were under the direction of a ' son of sweet
Erin,' whose lingo was Greek to their ears. He
flourished the gad vigorously, and soon produced
the most violent disorder with the cattle. This

76 EZRA CORNELL.

state of affairs threw Smith into a condition of
great nervous excitement. Soon, however, the
Irishman and the oxen effected a compromise,
when the latter started with a rush, for a distance
somewhat greater than the length of pipe we
had on the drum of the machine. The conse-
quence was that when the driver brought his team
to a halt, the pipe had disappeared, which being
discovered by Smith, caused him anxiously to in-
quire if we had forgotten to put the pipe in the
machine. Professor Morse was equally bewil-
dered by the turbulent movements of the animals
and their driver, and hence had paid as little atten-
tion to the action of the machine as Mr. Smith
had, and he also was anxious to know what had
become of the pipe. I assured them that the pipe
was where we intended it should be, namely, about
eighteen inches beneath the surface of the ground.
With an expression of doubt Smith directed the
driver to get a spade and dig for the pipe, for
which he proved more competent than driving
oxen. An hour's work uncovered the pipe, which
we again coiled on the drum of the machine, which
was then gauged for two feet depth, and the team
started for a second trial. Both team and driver
worked more kindly this time, which gave a bet-
ter opportunity to observe the operation of the
machine in depositing the pipe in the earth,

SUCCESSFUL INVENTION. 77

and both Professor Morse, and Mr. Smith, ex-
pressed their admiration of the manner in which
the work was accomplished. This experiment
removed all doubt from their minds as to the
practicability of laying the telegraph conductors
in a perfect manner at a minimum cost. The
more important question of insulation not being
fully understood or appreciated at that time,
Professor Morse could see nothing in the way
of immediate success for his great enterprise,
and left Portland for New York in the best of
spirits.

" The complete success of my machine, and the
prompt manner of making the invention the mo-
ment circumstances demanded its use, inspired
Mr. Smith with great confidence in my ability,
both as a mechanic and a practical man. He,
therefore, urged me to go to Baltimore with the
machine and take charge of laying the pipe be-
tween that city and Washington. As this propo-
sition involved the abandonment of the business
which I had come to Maine to look after, it was
with some hesitation that I entertained it. A
little reflection, however, convinced me that the
telegraph was to become a grand enterprise, and
this seemed a particularly advantageous oppor-
tunity for me to identify myself with it. Finally,
convinced that it would surely lead me on the road

78 EZRA CORNELL.

to fortune, I acceded to Mr. Smith's urgent soli-
citation and engaged to undertake the work, on
condition that I should first devote a little time
to the settlement of my business in Maine. This
was accomplished in about six weeks, and early
in October, I left Portland for Baltimore, via
Boston and New York.

'* On arriving in New York, I called on Profes-
sor Morse to ascertain how soon a supply of pipe
might be expected at Baltimore. He accompanied
me to the factory of Mr. Serrell, where the pipe
was being manufactured. The process of manu-
facture was briefly as follows : The lead was
first cast in ingots eighteen inches in length, con-
taining sufficient metal for about three hundred
feet of pipe, leaving a hole through the ingot of
proper size for the interior of the pipe, say five-
eighths of an inch. The ingots were then passed
between rollers, by which they were drawn to
the proper size, the four electrical wires being
drawn into the pipe through a hollow mandrel
during the passage of the ingots through the rol-
lers. These were No. 16 copper wires covered
with cotton yarn saturated with shellac, each wire
being covered with different colored yarn, in order
to be identified at the opposite ends of the pipe. To
insure the proper insulation, it was of course nec-
essary that the pipe should be water-tight, and

DEFECTIVE PIPE. 79

thus exclude dampness. To be assured of this,
when completed each section of pipe was subjected
to test by an air-pump, and if it would sustain a
vacuum it was passed as perfect. The ends
were then soldered to hold the wires in place,
and the pipe placed on reels ready for shipment.
This branch of the work was under the immediate
supervision of Dr. Fisher, who was the principal
assistant of Professor Morse. Professor Leonard
D. Gale was also employed as a scientific assis-
tant, and Alfred Vail as mechanical assistant.
They were each employed at the rate of $1,500
per annum.

" I had not been long- in the factory before my
attention was called to the process of casting- the
ingots, from which the pipe was drawn when cold.
I thought I could detect air-bubbles in the ingots,
from which I reasoned that the pressure of the
rollers must of necessity enlarge these defects, and
thus leave the pipe imperfect. I called Professor
Morse's attention to the subject, and asked him if
there was not danger that the pipe would leak
when placed in the ground. He replied, ' Oh, no;
we test each piece of pipe with the air-pump.
That is Dr. Fisher's especial duty, and if a piece
fails to sustain a vacuum on the air-pump, it is re-
jected as defective.' I told him I thought this
test deceptive, and suggested that a force-pump

80 EZRA CORNELL.

would be more likely to expose defects from
the cause apprehended. My warning proved of no
avail, however, at the time, as no change was made
in the mode of testing ; but my opinion was fully
vindicated by subsequent events."

CHAPTER VII.

EARLY DAYS OF THE TELEGRAPH.

At Baltimore, 1843. — Preparations to lay Telegraph Conductors. —
Successof Pipe Laying. — Testing the Pipe. — Midnight Exper-
iments.— Defects Discovered. — Pipe laid to Relay House. —
Prof. Morse's Mysterious Errand. — RespiteWanted. — A queer
Accident. — Broken Plow. — Anxious Conferences. — Critical
Situation. — Appropriation nearly Exhausted. — Failure Appre-
hended.— Morse and Smith Disagree. — Change of Pro-
gramme.— Light Wanted. — Subterranean Line Abandoned. —
Poles Adopted. — Line Completed. — Successful Operation. —
Presidential Nomination, 1844. — Congressmen Astonished.

FINDING that the pipe would not be ready for
shipment as early as had been anticipated, Mr.
Cornell remained for several days in New York,
devoting much time to the fair of the American
Institute, which greatly interested him. On Oc-
tober 17, 1843, ne proceeded to Baltimore,
where he was soon after met by Mr. Smith to
make the necessary arrangements to commence
laying the pipe. Continuing the narrative in Mr.
Cornell's own language, he proceeds thus : " After
a survey of the locality, it was determined that
the most eligible place for laying the pipe was on

82 EZRA CORNELL.

the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, between
the double tracks. In selecting a team to draw
the plow, Mr. Smith secured a large and elegant
span of spirited horses, with a view of sending
them to his residence near Portland, as a carriage
team, after the work was completed. The first
day's trial, however, convinced us that they could
not be safely or usefully employed where so many
trains were passing. The horses were accord-
ingly rejected and their places supplied by an eight
mule team, which answered the purpose admirably.
" The work of laying the pipe was commenced in
due time and proceeded satisfactorily ; the ma-
chine worked perfectly, and we were enabled to
lay from half a mile to a mile each day. My du-
ties were simply to direct the laying of the pipe,
leaving the connections between each length to be
made by men under the direction of Mr. Vail,
who also tested the wires as to their working qual-
ities. My work proceeded much faster than his,
so that when I had three miles laid, only one mile
had been connected through. By this time I had be-
come convinced of the defects in the pipe sugges-
ted to Professor Morse, and I made inquiries as
to the character of the tests which were being
used. Mr. Vail was not disposed to be communi-
cative, but from Mr. Avery, who had charge of
the battery, I learned that they were accustomed

MIDNIGHT EXPERIMENT. 83

to attach the black and red wires to the battery
and then apply the galvanometer to the same
wires at the opposite end. Finding the current
satisfactory, the same test was then applied to the
other two wires. I told Mr. Avery that this test
did not prove the wires to be properly insulated,
and suggested that a test should be made by at-
taching the black and red wires to the battery and
then to connect the green and yellow wires with
the galvanometer. He, however, declined to offer
any suggestions to Mr. Vail, who appeared very
jealous of any interference, and had already inti-
mated to Mr. Avery that he should confine him-
self to his own duties. I then suggested to Mr.
Avery that we should make the test for our own
satisfaction that evening, which after considerable
hesitation he agreed to, on condition that we
should wait until midnight in order to avoid
any possible observation. Accordingly, at twelve
o'clock we left the hotel where we were boarding,
and went to the place where the battery was .kept,
and attached it to the black and red wires. We
then proceeded to the other end, a mile distant,
and attached the green and yellow wires to the
galvanometer. This gave us a strong current,
proving conclusively that imperfect insulation al-
lowed the current to escape from one wire to an-
other. This was the first positive evidence of the

84 EZRA CORNELL.

coming failure, and on our return hence, I urged
upon Mr. Avery the importance of advising Pro-
fessor Morse of the discovery ; but he dared not
do so, and I accordingly went on with my part of
the work, expecting every day to receive orders
to suspend laying the pipe. Thus matters pro-
ceeded until we had completed the laying of pipe
as far as the Relay House, about ten miles from
Baltimore, when about five o'clock one afternoon,
as a train arrived, Professor Morse alighted and
walking along the track to where we were at
work, said he desired to speak with me aside.
Withdrawing a little distance from the men en-
gaged with me, he said : ' Mr. Cornell, can you
not contrive to stop this work for a few days in
some manner, so the papers will not know that it
has been purposely interrupted ? I want to make
some experiments before any more pipe is laid.'
This was a summons which I had been expecting
for several days, and was not, therefore, surprised
by it. Replying to Professor Morse that I would
comply with his request, I stepped back to the
machine and said : ' Hurrah, boys, whip up your
mules, we must lay another length of pipe before
we quit for night.' The teamsters cracked their
whips, and the animals started at a lively pace, as
I grasped the handles of the plow, and watching
an opportunity, I canted it over so as to catch into

ANXIOUS CONFERENCE. 85

a point of rock, breaking the machine into a com-
plete wreck. The following morning's papers
gave a graphic account of the accident which had
befallen the machine, and stated that, as a conse-
quence, the work would be interrupted a week or
two, until the necessary repairs could be made.

" Professor Morse, Mr. Vail, and Mr. Smith had
various consultations during the few days follow-
ing, which resulted in the condemnation of the cold
ingot pipe, and the determination to substitute
pipe made by the 'hot process.' My opinion
was not sought, and my only duty was to prolong
the machine repairs until the new pipe was ready
for use. When this came, we resumed work and
laid a mile of the new pipe, when we were ordered
to suspend further laying, until it could be
thoroughly tested. It was soon discovered that
the insulation was defective, and this time the fault
was charged to the undue heating of the hollow
mandrels through which the wire passed into the
pipe. This, it was claimed by Mr. Vail, had charred
the cotton covering of the wire, and destroyed its
insulating properties. At this crisis a council as-
sembled at the Relay House, consisting of Profes-
sor Morse, Dr. Fisher, Professor Gale, Mr. Vail,
and Mr. Smith. They spent several days in se-
cret session discussing the difficulties encountered
and the various remedies proposed. I was not

86 EZRA CORNELL.

present, nor was my opinion sought, but I was
privately informed, day by day, of the progress of
the discussion, by one of the parties present. It
was decided that the wires were useless as electri-
cal conductors on account of deficient insulation,
but it was not so easy to determine a practical
remedy.

" The situation was extremely critical, as already
$23,000 of the appropriation had been expended,
leaving only $7,000 on hand, while Smith claimed
$4,000 of that amount to satisfy his contract for
laying the pipe from Baltimore to Washington.
He claimed his right to this sum whether the pipe
was laid or not, as he stood ready to perform his
part of the contract. Mr. Smith regarded the en-
terprise as a practical failure, and insisted on his
legal rights under the contract, in order to reim-
burse himself for expenditures made in promoting
the scheme. This was the "beginning of the dif-
ferences between Morse and Smith, which after-
ward became an open quarrel, and their relations
were never friendly thereafter. The remnant of
the appropriation was fast melting away by the
payment of salaries; viz.: Professor Morse, $2,500;
Professor Gale and Dr. Fisher, $1,500 each; and
Mr. Vail, $1,000. It was estimated that to re-in-
sulate the wire, and complete the work, would re-
quire $25,000, and it was concluded, therefore,

A NEW PLAN. 87

that the work must be suspended until another
appropriation could be obtained.

" While these conclusions were being reached,
I made some experiments which satisfied me that
the wires could be re-insulated at a very small ex-
pense, and so reported to Professor Morse. Mr.
Vail insisted that the wires could not be taken out
of the pipe except by melting the latter ; but I ex-
plained my plan to the satisfaction of Professor
Morse, and he finally decided that I should under-
take it. The services of Gale and Fisher were
dispensed with in order to reduce expenses, but Mr.
Vail refused to retire. Professor Morse had me ap-
pointed Mechanical Assistant, by the Secretary of
the Treasury, and directed me to proceed with the
work of removing the wires from the pipe and re-
insulating them. We obtained permission to do
this work in the basement of the Patent Office at
Washington, where we were soon engaged in ac-
tive operation.

" Realizing the importance of more definite in-
formation in electrical science, I decided to utilize
the long winter evenings in study. To this end, I
applied to Professor Page, an examiner in the Pat-
ent Office, to furnish me a list of works on the sub-
ject, which would be useful. The Commissioner of
Patents, Mr. Ellsworth, kindly gave me an order
to take these books from the Patent Office Li-

88 EZRA CORNELL.

brary to my lodgings ; but on applying for them
the following day, the Librarian reported them all
out. Repeated applications only served to obtain
the same response, and further inquiry led to the
discovery that Mr. Vail had drawn these books
the very day of my interview with the Commis-
sioner. Finally, becoming satisfied that he was
keeping the works to prevent my examination of
them, I explained the circumstance to Mr. Smith
who, thereupon, introduced me to the Librarian of
the Congressional Library, from whom I had no
difficulty in obtaining the desired books.

" The reading of these works soon revealed the
fact that the same difficulties which we had encoun-
tered, had also been experienced in England,
where Cooke and Wheatstone had undertaken the .
same experiments and met with the same failures,
and that they had finally adopted the plan of pla-
cing their wires on poles. It was not long before
it became apparent that somebody was reading the
books which Mr. Vail had obtained from the Patent
Office Library, and that to a very good purpose,
as Professor Morse said to me quietly, one day,
that he might conclude to change his plans. This
announcement satisfied me that light was break-
ing in an important quarter, and while I pressed on
with removing the wires from the pipes, I did not
hasten the re-insulation, as I was confident that

TELEGRAPH POLES. 89

the order would soon come to erect the wires on
poles. In this I was not disappointed, for before
the end of March, Professor Morse informed me
that he had decided to put the wires on poles,
and gave me directions to make the necessary
arrangements accordingly.

" The question as to what mode of insulation
should be adopted in fastening the wires to the
poles was one of the first that confronted us.
After a little reflection I submitted to Professor
Morse a plan for this purpose, which was con-
demned by Mr. Vail, who proposed another kind
of fixture. Professor Morse finally decided in
favor of Mr. Vail's plan, and started for New
York to have the necessary fixtures manufactured.
At the end of a week Professor Morse returned
to Washington, and said he had concluded to use
my plan of insulation. At my expression of sur-
prise at his change of mind, he said : ' On my way
to New York I stopped over at Princeton to see
my old friend Professor Henry, to whom I ex-
plained our change from underground to pole
line, and showed him the model of Mr. Vail's in-
sulating fixture. Professor Henry examined it
carefully and soon satisfied me that it would not
answer our purpose, as it would only bring a repe-
tition of the troubles which we have suffered in
our underground wires. I then explained your

90 EZRA CORNELL.

plan to him and he approved it entirely. I have,
therefore, returned for the purpose of putting
your plan in use.' The last difficulty having thus
been removed, the work of erecting the line on
poles went rapidly forward, and about May i, 1844,
we had the line completed and in operation be-
tween Washington and Baltimore. This was ac-
complished so far within the $7,000 remaining of
the appropriation, as to still leave a sufficient bal-
ance to continue Professor Morse's and Mr. Vail's
salaries for the remainder of the year."

Shortly after the completion of this line, the
National Democratic convention assembled in Bal-
timore, which nominated Polk and Dallas for Presi-
dent and Vice-President. Brief reports of the
proceedings of the convention were telegraphed
to Washington, and caused great excitement
among the members of Congress, who crowded
the telegraph office in the basement of the Capi-
tol. While much had been heard about the tele-
graph for several years, it was regarded by most
people as an idle dream, and the sudden discov-
ery of the fact that an event of such public inter-
est as a presidential convention could be reported
by telegraph, took almost everybody completely
by surprise.

CHAPTER VIII.

TELEGRAPH DEVELOPMENT.

Practical Success in Operation. — Government Declines to Pur-
chase Telegraph Patent for $100,000. — Postmaster General's
Report. — Seeking Private Capital. — Exhibition of Telegraph.
— Boston. — New York. — Building Lines. — Philadelphia to
New York, 1845. — New York to Albany. 1846. — Troy and
Canada, 1847. — Erie and Michigan, 1848. — Poverty of Chi-
cago.— Small Investments. — New York and Erie, 1849. — Fatal
Error in Insulation. — Cold Plunge in River. — Competition in
Western States. — Serious Accident. — Broken Arm. — Bitter-
ness of Rivalry. — Unexampled Brutality. — Final Triumph.

THE operation of the telegraph between Wash-
ington and Baltimore, despite the frail character
of the line and the crudity of the instruments, was
quite successful, and afforded satisfactory evidence
of its practicability for the purpose of conveying
intelligence between distant places. It substantially
fulfilled the claims of Professor Morse and his
friends as to its capacity and usefulness for the
object designed. This having been demonstrated,
the next question to be solved was, what should
be done with it ? In default of any other demand

92 EZRA CORNELL.

for it, the owners of the patent first offered it to
the Government, placing upon it the nominal price
of $100,000. but they would have been glad, at
that time, to have realized a considerably smaller
sum for their interest. This proposition was, by
Congress, referred to the Post-Office Department,
for consideration and recommendation as to the
probable value of the invention. The Hon. Cave
Johnson, then Postmaster-General, made a report
in response to this reference, advising against the
proposed purchase by Government. The fol-
lowing quotation from his report shows the esti-
mate in which the telegraph was then held as an
instrumentality of practical usefulness : " Although
the invention is an agent vastly superior to any

other ever devised by the genius of man

yet the operation of the telegraph between this
city (Washington) and Baltimore has not satis-
fied me, that under any rate of postage that can
be adopted, its revenues can be made to cover its
expenditures." Under the influence of this re-
port, it was not strange that Congress declined
the offer of the patentees, and the telegraph
was consequently left to seek development by the
aid of private capital. This, however, proved to
be a very slow and tedious process. Those fa-
miliar with the almost universal use into which
the telegraph has now come, will find it difficult to

EXHIBITING THE TELEGRAPH. 93

realize the utter indifference with which it was
regarded in the days of its infancy.

That the new medium of communication was
especially adapted to the necessities of commercial
business, and that its utilization for public use would
command profitable patronage, Mr. Cornell had
become thoroughly convinced. He, consequently,
determined to devote himself to the development
of the telegraph as a business enterprise, and ac-
cordingly spent several weeks at Washington in
familiarizing himself with its practical workings.
After a brief visit to his home and family, from
whom he had been absent nearly a year, he pro-
ceeded to Boston for the purpose of introducing
the telegraph to the personal attention of business
men, in accordance with an understanding pre-
viously made with the Hon. F. O. J. Smith. After
some consideration as to the best mode of accom-
plishing this object, it was finally decided to build
a line of telegraph for public demonstration. A
line was, accordingly, erected by Mr. Cornell, ex-
tending from Milk Street to School Street, which
he opened for that purpose. He spent the summer
and autumn of 1844 in this work, with the view of
enlisting capital to build a line of telegraph be-
tween Boston and New York. The result of these
efforts was, however, very unsatisfactory, as but
few persons were attracted by the novelty, and,

94 EZRA CORNELL.

as a general rule, they were not of a class who
had means for investment in new enterprises. It
was, therefore, decided to transfer the exhibition
to New York, in the hope of arousing in that city
a more active interest in the proposed undertak-
ing.

Proceeding thence to the city of New York in
conformity with this policy, Mr. Cornell constructed
a line of telegraph, extending from No. 112 Broad-
way, opposite Trinity Church, to a place on Broad-
way, near the site of the present Metropolitan
Hotel, and it was put into actual operation late
in the fall of 1844. Here the display attracted
even less attention than it had in Boston. Owing
to the low state of finances in which the promoters
of the telegraph found themselves, a fee of twenty-
five cents was charged for admission, in the hope
that the exhibition might be made self-sustain-
ing. This, however, proved almost a failure, as
the receipts were quite insignificant and not
adequate to defray the extremely moderate ex-
penses which were incurred. The Tribune and
the Express gave the enterprise favorable notice,
but the Herald carefully avoided any reference to
the subject, and ignored even the existence of the
telegraph. On one occasion, the proprietor of
the Herald was solicited to give some friendly at-
tention to the exhibition, when he frankly replied

EARLY PROMOTERS. 95

that he was opposed to the success of the tele-
graph, and should do nothing to promote it. He
said he was then able, by special couriers, to beat
his rivals in procuring early news, whereas, if
the telegraph was generally established, it would
deprive him of his present advantage. This nar-
row-minded policy was pursued by him until two
years later, when, by the transmission of the
Governor's message by telegraph, the Herald
was badly beaten in its efforts to obtain an ad-
vanced copy of the same by special messenger.
Mr. Cornell spent the entire winter in the attempt
to secure public attention to the subject of the
telegraph, but almost without success.

By dint of much personal effort, however, a few
individuals were finally induced to venture small
amounts for the erection of telegraph lines. The
parties who thus gave early vitality to the enter-
prise were not capitalists or men of wealth, but, on
the contrary, were generally of quite moderate
financial resources. Two classes of persons, who
were notably conspicuous as early promoters of
the telegraph enterprise, were those formerly en-
gaged as proprietors of stage transportation, who
so lately had seen their occupation superseded by
the railroads, and that other body of enterprising
pioneers — peculiar to the material development
of the American continent — who had recently es-

96 EZRA CORNELL.

tablished the express system on a firm and suc-
cessful basis. The " Magnetic Telegraph Com-
pany " was the first incorporated company that
was organized for the prosecution of the proposed
business. The object of this organization was
the erection and operation of a line of telegraph
between the cities of New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and Washington. The section of line
between Fort Lee, opposite New York, and Phil-
adelphia, was constructed under the superintend-
ence of Mr. Cornell, in the summer of 1845. He
was engaged in this service at a compensation of
one thousand dollars per annum, and demonstrated
his faith in the financial success of the scheme
by subscribing five hundred dollars to the capital
stock of the company, which he paid out of his
meagre salary.

No means of insulating electric wires for sub-
marine crossings had, at that period, been discov-
ered. There had not yet been devised any mode
of utilizing rubber for purposes of insulation,
while gutta-percha had not then become an arti-
cle of commerce. The only practical way for the
crossing of navigable waters by telegraph conduc-
tors, available to the intelligence of man, was by
the suspension of wires from points on either
side of the stream, high enough to clear pass-
ing vessels. For the establishment of telegraphic

FIRST LINES OF TELEGRAPH. 97

intercourse between New York and Philadel-
phia, the crossing of the Hudson River was ac-
complished by the use of masts, erected at Fort
Washington and on the Palisades opposite. In
opening communication between Philadelphia
and Fort Lee, prior to the completion of the river
crossing, an attempt was made to utilize, for tem-
porary use, the telegraph instruments which had
originally been employed on the line between
Washington and Baltimore. They proved un-
available for the purpose, however, as, after sev-
eral days' trial, they were found unsuited for
use on a line of this length, owing to crudity and
imperfection of construction. Other relay mag-
nets were thereupon devised by Mr. Cornell on
a new plan, that worked admirably, and were
continued in use until supplemented by a new
style of relay, designed and constructed by a
French electrician, which Professor Morse brought
home with him from France. These instruments
were found well suited to the purpose, and came
into general use in this country.

A company was also formed for the erection of
lines of telegraph between New York and Boston
in 1845 ; and still another was organized to con-
struct a line from New York to Buffalo, of which
the section between Albany and Buffalo was
built the same year. That portion of the line
7

98 EZRA CORNELL.

between New York and Albany was erected by
Mr. Cornell, on a contract, for the New York,
Albany & Buffalo Telegraph Company, and was
successfully completed in the autumn of 1846.
This contract was the first enterprise that Mr.
Cornell had been able to conduct for his own ad-
vantage, and from it he realized a profit of about
six thousand dollars, despite the embarrassment
of having been prostrated by severe illness
several weeks during the progress of the work.
He also built a considerable extent of telegraph
line below Quebec, for the account of a Canadian
company, and the following year he erected a line
of telegraph from Troy through the State of Ver-
mont to Montreal, under contract with the Troy
& Canada Junction Telegraph Company. These
several transactions proved highly remunerative
to the enterprising contractor, and from the profits
thus realized, he found himself strong enough,
financially, to undertake more pretentious adven-
tures on his own account.

With a view of extending his operations into
a wider field of usefulness, and enabling himself
to become more distinctly master of his business,
Mr. Cornel], in 1847, organized the Erie & Mich-
igan Telegraph Company, designed to provide a
line of telegraph between Buffalo and Milwaukee,
by way of Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago. It

ERIE AND MICHIGAN TELEGRAPH. 99

was his hope and expectation to obtain, from res-
idents of the several cities and towns along the
route, subscriptions to the capital stock of the
company, sufficient, with what he himself was able
to invest, to complete the line. In this, however,
he was almost wholly disappointed, as, beyond a
few thousand dollars contributed by citizens of
Detroit, Kalamazoo, South Bend, Racine, and Mil-
waukee, scarcely anything" was provided by those
residing on the line. At Chicago, it was found
impossible to raise a dollar of subscription, owing
to the poverty and indifference of the people.
The marvellous change which has come over that
city, which in 1847 was unable or unwilling to take
a share of telegraph stock, is strikingly illustrated
by the fact that in this year of the Lord, 1884, the
citizens of Chicago are paying at least three thou-
sand dollars per day for their telegraph service.
A thorough canvass of the territory interested, re-
sulted in failure to secure anything like the neces-
sary capital, and but for Mr. Cornell's boldness in
obligating himself for a large amount, beyond the
investment of his entire available means, the enter-
prise must have been abandoned. Confident, how-
ever, of the great ultimate value of the proposed
line, he pushed it forward with his characteristic en-
ergy to a successful completion, which was accom-
plished in 1848, to the gratification of all interested.

100 EZRA CORNELL.

Desiring to furnish a direct and independent
connection for the Erie & Michigan Telegraph
system with the city of New York, Mr. Cornell also
organized the New York & Erie Telegraph
Company, for the purpose of building a line of
telegraph from New York to Dunkirk, through the
southern tier of counties of the State of New
York, which was completed in the year 1849.
The glass insulators then in common use were so
delicately made as to be easily broken, subjecting
the lines to frequent interruption from this cause.
To avoid this embarrassment, and insure a per-
manent and reliable structure, an insulator was es-
pecially designed for this new work, consisting of
an iron shield filled with brimstone as its insulating
substance. When first completed, the line was
very perfect in operation, but in a few weeks it be-
gan to work badly, and in the course of some
months its usefulness was substantially destroyed.
Many weary months of experiment and inves-
tigation finally disclosed the fact that, whereas
brimstone in its ordinary state was a perfect insu-
lator, exposure, for a few weeks, to the atmos-
phere in connection with the iron produced a
chemical change which converted it into a posi-
tive conductor of the electric current. Thus
the theoretical results of the scientific laboratory
misled the company into a fatal error, which, for

SERIOUS MISFORTUNE. IOI

the time being, completely prevented the opera-
tion of the line. The only alternative, therefore,
was to provide for re-insulating the entire struc-
ture with glass.

In all of the struggles incident to Mr. Cor-
nell's laborious career, nothing compared with the
obstacles which continually obstructed the prog-
ress and prosperity of the New York & Erie Tele-
graph Company. He had induced many personal
friends to invest their means in the stock of the
company, and he felt more than an usual degree of
personal responsibility and anxiety to make it suc-
cessful. The ignorance of the chemical experts,
as to the change in the insulating qualities of
brimstone after exposure to the atmosphere for a
brief time was the principal cause of the long-con-
tinued misfortune which attended this enterprise,
and finally ended its career in insolvency.

Another cause of annoyance was the difficulty
of crossing the Hudson River with the wires.
At that period there was no substance available
for submarine insulation, and suspension of the
conductor over the channel of the river was the
only mode of crossing. For this line, a wire was
suspended from the opposite cliffs of the Highlands,
just above Cold Spring. This, however, was fre-
quently destroyed as the result of heavy sleet
storms in winter, and many hardships were expe-

102 EZRA CORNELL.

rienced in maintaining the frail structure. Mr.
Cornell often personally participated in the diffi-
cult and dangerous feats of replacing the con-
ductor when thus prostrated.

On one occasion, while travelling over the Erie
Railway, in the service of this unfortunate enter-
prise, Mr. Cornell met with a singular accident,
which is worthy of record in this relation. Pro-
ceeding east over the road on a bitter cold night
in February, when near Callicoon, about three
o'clock, a broken rail threw the last car from the
track and severed its connection with the train.
Going at high speed, the car struck and completely
demolished a telegraph pole, the shock of which
tore the roof from the car, and it finally landed in
the Delaware River. The occupants, of whom
there were some twenty or thirty, men, women,
and children, were plunged into the water waist
deep. The river was running full of anchor ice,
and by the time the passengers had scrambled out
of the water, their garments were frozen stiff.
None of the victims were seriously injured, but
they all suffered intensely in the cold night air
while waiting for the return of the train, which had
gone on several miles before missing the lost car.
They were taken forward to Narrowsburgh where
the best provision possible was made for their
comfort.

WESTERN LINES. 103

The Erie & Michigan Company proved a suc-
cessful venture, and became the trunk line of a
considerable system. Lines were erected to con-
nect with it, extending from Cleveland to Pitts-
burgh ; Cleveland to Zanesville and Wheeling ;
Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati, and thence
to St. Louis. The Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois Tel-
egraph Company also came under the control of
the managers of the Erie & Michigan. Through-
out nearly all of the territory west of Buffalo
telegraph lines were established before the rail-
ways. The Michigan Central, the Little Miami,
and one or two other minor roads were par-
tially built before electricity was introduced, but
with these exceptions, the telegraph was the pio-
neer, and was generously welcomed by the people
in all parts of the West. The tedious delay in
the transmission of the mails in those early days,
made the new medium of communication espec-
ially acceptable to the vigorous and enterprising
men of the then frontier region ; and there can be
little doubt that the telegraph was in no small
degree entitled to credit for the prodigious devel-
opment of the Western States, which occurred in
the decade preceding the great rebellion. In this
connection it may also, without impropriety, be
stated, that the assertion has often been made by
those extremely competent to form an opinion,

104 EZRA CORNELL.

that the success of the Government in subduing the
rebellion and restoring the Union was due more
to the service of the telegraph than to any other
one cause. But for its use, it would have been
impossible to move or supply the enormous armies
which were found requisite to overcome the rebel
forces.

It was a slow and difficult process to interest
people in the telegraph business in the beginning.
Indeed, nothing but the most abiding faith in
final success could have kept up the courage of
the pioneers of the enterprise in the first years
of their struggles. It was not strange, how-
ever, that the average business man could not
see the practical utility of the new invention ;
the mails then served every purpose of ordinary
intercourse, and it required the sanguine antici-
pation of a thorough convert to realize what it
was to accomplish. As soon, however, as the
ultimate success of the enterprise had been dem-
onstrated by the experience of the early lines,
there were plenty of people ready to embark
in the business, and within three years all of
the principal cities of the country were placed
in telegraphic communication with each other.
Despite the protection the original companies
fancied they were to enjoy from the patent rights
which they had acquired from the inventor and

BITTER RIVALRY. 105

patentees, duplicate lines soon began to invade
their territory, and they found themselves power-
less to prevent a ruinous competition. Many of
the early companies were driven to bankruptcy
from this cause, and their lines sold by sheriffs
under executions of judgments. This condition
of things continued for several years, until nearly
every important line in the country was paralleled.
The summer of 1854 was a season of bitter
and relentless rivalry among the various telegraph
organizations in the Western States. The most
extraordinary efforts were constantly being made
to gain some advantage, until, indeed, the rivalry
became almost a state of open warfare, often in-
cluding legal controversies over the title and pos-
session of lines which had been the subject of
forced sales. In the midst of this trying period,
when his active attention was more than ever es-
sential to the protection of his many interests,
Mr. Cornell met with a painful accident, which
kept him a prisoner in his room for several
weeks. In travelling by rail from Lafayette to
Indianapolis, his arm, resting on the sill of the
open car-window, was caught by the frame of a
bridge. The arm was drawn out of the window
and pounded against the timbers, through the
entire length of the bridge, fracturing the bones
twice above and three times below the elbow,

106 EZRA CORNELL.

besides breaking three fingers. The flesh of the
hand and arm was terribly lacerated, and the in-
jury was extremely painful. Fortunately, it was
not found necessary to amputate the limb, and it
was restored to a condition of usefulness, though
the fingers were ever after stiff, and awkward for
many purposes. It happened, at the time of the
accident, that Mr. Cornell was accompanied by
friends, who cared for him to the best advantage.
He was taken to Indianapolis for medical treatment
and care. Mrs. Cornell was summoned from her
home, by telegraph, and hastened to attend him
in the long and tedious confinement which awaited
him. A subsequent investigation as to the cause
of the accident demonstrated that it was in conse-
quence of the fact that the car, in which he was
riding, was much larger and wider than those ordi-
narily used on the road, and almost filled the
space in the bridge.

It was several weeks before Mr. Cornell was
permitted to leave his room, and many months
before he was able to travel without much pain
and discomfort. His telegraph interests suffered
materially in consequence of this circumstance,
notwithstanding his associates did all in their
power to make good the interruption of his ac-
tive attention to them. Advantage was taken
by some of his business rivals of the opportunity

EXTREME HOSTILITY. 1 07

afforded by his prostration, to discredit and em-
barrass him, by spreading false reports as to
his solvency. In one instance this enmity pro-
ceeded so far as the purchase of one of his un-
adjusted obligations, by some of his telegraph
opponents, for the sole purpose of prosecution,
while he was still confined to his house by this
accident. The unexampled brutality which would
induce such a proceeding as this, illustrates the
extreme hostility to which the telegraph war had
been pushed in the West. Mr. Cornell was, how-
ever, enabled to provide for his outstanding liabili-
ties; and those who were engaged in the dis-
reputable attempt to ruin a competitor art a time
when he was disabled by a cruel accident, had
the mortification afterward of witnessing him tri-
umph over all obstacles, and by the wise and
beneficent use of his fortune, establish a name
and fame for himself, which will brighten in future
ages when even the names of his petty tormen-
tors shall be forgotten.

CHAPTER IX.

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

Liberal Patronage in Western States. — Activity of Competition. —
Threatened Bankruptcy. — Necessity of Consolidation. — Or-
ganization of Western Union Telegraph Company. — Re-
markable Success. — Good Resulting from Evil. — Railway Co-
operation.— Growth of the Western Union System. — Reduc-
tion of Tariffs. — Russian Extension Project. — Success of At-
lantic Cables. — Mr. Cornell's Services. — Profitable Investment.

THE newly settled and rapidly developing
Western States were, from the beginning, the
very El Dorado of the telegraph business. The
new system of communication seemed peculiarly
adapted to the necessities of the wide-awake busi-
ness men of that region. In the older States, tel-
egraph offices could be sustained only in the large
villages and cities, but in the Western States,
every little hamlet demanded telegraphic facilities,
and often it was found that places quite insignifi-
cant in numbers of population proved to be rich
placers for the new enterprise. This was true
especially of points at which any considerable
amount of agricultural produce was gathered for

LIBERAL PATRONAGE. 109

shipment to the Eastern markets. Dealers in
grain were the earliest and most profitable pat-
rons of the telegraph. The necessity of keeping
themselves promptly advised of fluctuations in
the market prices of their commodities, at the
great trade centres, made them extremely liberal
in their patronage. Those engaged in other
branches of business were not slow to avail them-
selves of the facilities of quick communication thus
brought within their reach, and the telegraph busi-
ness increased with unexampled rapidity. The
inevitable consequence of this vigorous develop-
ment, was the introduction of rival lines, and the
opening of competing offices in almost every com-
munity, frequently three or four in towns of any
considerable importance. In many places the
competition was sharp and often bitter. Thus
profits were consumed by an extraordinary burden
of expenses, and an advantageous field for a
single line was converted into an absolutely un-
profitable region by the duplication of lines, while
the companies owning these lines were drifting
on to inevitable bankruptcy.

This alarming condition of affairs convinced the
managers and proprietors that the salvation of
their property from absolute ruin required imme-
diate and radical change of policy. Various at-
tempts were made, looking to the mitigation of

HO EZRA CORNELL.

the evil, but nothing was accomplished to afford
any substantial relief until 1855, when, by the co-
operation of Mr. Cornell and some of the other
principal owners of telegraph property in the
Northwestern States, a consolidation of interests
was effected, which resulted in the organization of
the Western Union Telegraph Company. This
new company was formed by a combination of the
lines of the New York & Mississippi Valley Tele-
graph Company ; Erie & Michigan ; Cleveland
& Cincinnati ; Cleveland & Pittsburgh ; Cincin-
nati & St. Louis ; Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois ; Lake
Erie & Ohio ; and a few other minor compa-
nies, embracing substantially all interests then
existing in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Mich-
igan, Wisconsin, and a portion of Illinois.

By this course a valuable territory for tele-
graph business was immediately relieved from the
evils of competition, and the lines converted from
an impecunious condition to one of great pros-
perity. The managers realized that, to save the
advantages which their experiment at consolida-
tion had so strikingly demonstrated, they must
continue to develop the policy so auspiciously
commenced. They wisely determined, therefore,
to use their rapidly accumulating profits in estab-
lishing their own system over a more extended
range of operations. This they did by purchasing

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH. Ill

such lines as could be advantageously acquired,
and by building" new ones wherever a profitable
field of business appeared within their reach. Old
lines which could not otherwise be secured were
leased in perpetuity, and thus brought under the
management of the new company, rendering their
position more complete and impregnable.

Primarily, therefore, the great and crowning
triumph of the telegraph enterprise in America
grew out of the ruinous competition which so
speedily extended through the Western States,
and reduced that prolific field of telegraph pat-
ronage to a condition of absolute loss, and, in
many instances hopeless insolvency As indicated
by the peculiar style of its name, the Western
Union Telegraph Company was originally organ-
ized as a Western company, with no definite idea
on the part of its active projectors, in the begin-
ning, that it would become anything more than a
local organization, and thus apart only of the tele-
graph system of the country. The evils of com-
petition were first and most seriously realized in
the Western States, and the necessity for consoli-
dation of interests was there soonest appreciated.
The success of the new policy, however, became
so quickly apparent to the managers of the com-
pany, that they were speedily induced to push
their advantage into new territory. Within a few

112 EZRA CORNELL.

years they had so far advanced in their success-
ful career, that the continent of America became
the only limit recognized by them as the extent
of their operations.

Early in the progress of the new company it
inaugurated a system of co-operation with the
railway companies, which has proved of inestim-
able value in the rapid, economical, and permanent
development of the enterprise. Contracts were
entered into for the erection of lines of telegraph
along the railroads, with one or more wires for
railway use and additional wires for the general
commercial business of the telegraph company.
These contracts generally covered a period of
twenty or thirty years, and, in most cases, pro-
vided for the furnishing of poles and wire by the
Western Union Company, while the railway com-
panies supplied the labor for erecting the lines
and keeping them in repair. Railway depots
were generally utilized for telegraph offices, and,
in many of the smaller towns, the railway agents
performed also the duty of telegraph operators,
thus providing for the economical maintenance of
telegraph facilities in many places where limited
patronage would not justify a separate estab-
lishment. This plan of co-operation has been ex-
tended until the Western Union Company has
become thoroughly identified with almost every

REMARKABLE SUCCESS, 113

considerable railway company in the United States
and Canada. Under this policy the railways
have been provided with superior means for tele-
graphic service, while the telegraph company has
been enabled to secure for itself an extended
system of lines far cheaper than they could have
been built independently, besides the enormous
advantage of acquiring the entire volume of com-
mercial business as its exclusive right.

Steadily and with much wisdom, from the com-
mencement of its organization to the present time,
the Western Union Telegraph Company has pur-
sued the policy of extending its jurisdiction, by
the building of new lines and the acquisition, by
purchase or lease, of those already in existence.
The extraordinary success of the company must
be attributed, in great measure, to the wisdom,
courage, and vigor of its early management.
While it cannot be denied that some errors were
committed, these were so insignificant in compari-
son to the general results accomplished, that they
are quite unworthy of serious comment.

Following the policy adopted and so ably pur-
sued, the company has now become practically
invincible, and has attained an eminence in the
telegraph business unrivalled in the whole civil-
ized world. Its lines now cover every State
and Territory in the United States and all of the

"4 EZRA CORNELL.

Provinces of the Dominion of Canada, supple-
mented by cables to Europe and the West Indies,
while it maintains offices in every city and prom-
inent town within the jurisdiction of the United
States and Canada, together with several thousand
offices in villages and hamlets of very insignificant
importance. At the present time (1884), the
Western Union Telegraph system embraces 142,-
459 miles of line, consisting of 422, 382 miles of
wire. The company maintains 12,386 telegraph
offices, and its employees number more than
twenty thousand persons. During the past year
the volume of its business amounted to more than
forty-one millions of messages, while for the last
fiscal year its gross earnings were $19,454,803 ;
expenses, $n,794»533» and net profits $7,660,350.
With the extension of its plant and the in-
crease of facilities the Western Union manage-
ment has pursued the policy of reducing its tariff
of charges, and it is now, by far, the cheapest sys-
tem of telegraphic communication in the world.
Some idea of the reduction in tolls on telegraph
messages which has been effected by the Western
Union Company may be realized by the fact that
in 1867 the average rate of charge for each mes-
sage over its lines was $1.09, while in 1883 the
average rate was only 35 cents ; expense per mes-
sage in 1867,68 cents, and in 1883, 23 cents;

RUSSIAN EXTENSION. 115

profits per message in 1867, 41 cents, and in 1883,
12 cents. Compared with the rate of charges
for telegraph service throughout the entire conti-
nent of Europe, the Western Union service av-
erages considerably less than one half in price per
message, notwithstanding the fact that the com-
pensation of operators is very materially higher
in the United States and Canada than in Eu-
rope.

One of the principal elements of strength, and
that which, probably more than anything else, in-
sured the final and substantial domination of the
Western Union Company, was the enterprising
spirit which animated its executive management.
From the first consolidation of rival lines into one
compact and vigorous organization, it proceeded
with unceasing activity to strengthen its position
by reaching out and covering new territory. The
vigor with which it pushed its lines across the
continent in advance of civilization and brought
the Pacific coast into instant communication with
the Eastern States was a marvel in its day. After
the failure of the first Atlantic Cable in 1858, the
Western Union Company undertook the build-
ing of overland lines through the British posses-
sions, to connect with cable across Behring Strait,
and thence by land lines over the continent of
Asia, to provide for telegraphic correspondence

Il6 EZRA CORNELL.

between America and Europe. Four millions of
dollars were expended by the Company in the
extension of its lines to accomplish this purpose,
when, in 1866, the Atlantic Cable was finally com-
pleted and successfully opened for business. It
was obvious that the expense of maintaining the
overland lines through the vast and uninhabited
wilderness, without intermediate business to con-
tribute to their support, would render it impos-
sible to successfully compete with the direct ocean
cables in the transmission of Transatlantic bus-
iness. As soon, therefore, as the permanence of
the cable was assured, the overland system was
abandoned, to the complete sacrifice of the en-
tire amount invested therein.

Convinced at an early period of the imperative
and increasing necessity of harmonious action
between existing telegraph organizations to save
them from bankruptcy and ruin, Mr. Cornell was
one of the originators of the Western Union
Telegraph Company. He was one of the earliest
directors of the company, and in that capacity
was identified with its management for a period
of twenty years. His large experience in tel-
egraph matters, together with his mature judg-
ment and practical wisdom, rendered his counsel
of infinite value in shaping the policy of the com-
pany in its earlier years. He understood the

VALUABLE SERVICES. Il/"

nature of difficulties to be overcome and the
dangers to be avoided, which enabled him to
exercise a potent and guiding influence with
associates who had come into the business at
later stages of its history. He was emphatically,
and in every sense of the term, one of the pio-
neers of the telegraph enterprise, and no other
person contributed more valuable service toward
securing its early and successful establishment.
He was present at the birth of the infant as a prac-
tical business project ; he helped to give it vital-
ity and strength in the days of its weakness ; and
he had the great satisfaction of witnessing its ex-
traordinary growth and development to the pro-
portions of a veritable giant. From the begin-
ning of active operations his faith was absolutely
unwavering in the ultimate and complete success
of the telegraph as a profitable enterprise, and
he realized very substantial compensation as the
result of his early and correct judgment.

For more than fifteen years Mr. Cornell was the
largest individual stockholder of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, and in addition to
his interests in that company, he was a large
stockholder in the Illinois & Mississippi Tele-
graph Company and also in the Northwestern
Telegraph Company. These organizations for
many years occupied most of the territory west

Il8 EZRA CORNELL.

and north of Chicago and St. Louis, and were
conducted on terms of amity and co-operation with
the Western Union system, but were at last ab-
sorbed by the greater company under permanent
leases, and their lines now constitute a portion of
the property of the Western Union Company.
From the commencement of his career in the
telegraph enterprise, Mr. Cornell demonstrated his
faith in its complete success by investing every
dollar of his earnings in the business, and stead-
fastly declined to part with his holdings of tel-
egraph stocks, until his plans for the building up
of the great University at Ithaca, rendered such
a course necessary to provide means therefor.

The wisdom of his policy was abundantly vindi-
cated by the fact that he was enabled to realize for
his telegraph interests in the aggregate probably
more than two millions of dollars. He was not
possessed of any considerable amount of capital
at the beginning of his operations, and this large
accumulation was the result simply of the invest-
ment in telegraph property of earnings and profits
realized from the construction of lines. It is a
remarkable fact that Mr. Cornell thus gained from
the fruits of his labors in the telegraph enterprise,
a sum larger than all of the owners of the origi-
nal patents of the telegraph realized for them-
selves from their entire interests. It is also true

SUPERIOR PERCEPTION. 119

that nearly all of those who accumulated large
fortunes from the profits of the telegraph devel-
opment, were men who engaged in the business
without much capital, or other advantage than
their superior perception in anticipating the results
which were to be attained in the business.

CHAPTER X.

AGRICULTURAL TASTES.

Rural Tendencies. — Resuming Agricultural Pursuits. — Improved
Breeds of Animals. — The Forest Park Herd. — Farmers' Club.
— Agricultural Societies. — President of State Society. — Dele-
gate to London Exposition. — European Travel. — State Fair.
— Embarrassments of the Agricultural College. — Proposition
to Endow an Institution for Agricultural Education. — Dona-
ting a Farm. — Neglected Facilities.

ALTHOUGH reared on a farm from his eighth year,
the rugged hills of De Ruyter did not offer suf-
ficient attractions to induce the youth, Ezra Cor-
nell, to choose the farmer's life as his vocation.
Whether, if his lot had been cast in a more at-
tractive agricultural region, he would as readily
have forsaken the farm to enter upon the labori-
ous occupation of a carpenter, cannot be stated
with any satisfactory assurance. Affectionately
attached to his parents and family, every influ-
ence of consanguinity would seem to have been
favorable to his remaining at home. Perhaps the
natural ambition of youth, which too often assists
in the planning of "air castles, " would have in-

RURAL TASTES. 121

duced a change under any circumstances. Certain
it is, however, that in all of his mature years, Mr.
Cornell had an inextinguishable longing for farm
life, and whenever other duties permitted him to
follow the bent of his own real pleasure he was
drawn irresistibly to rural affairs. In selecting
a homestead after his marriage, instead of choos-
ing an ordinary village lot convenient to business,
he went outside the village and secured a plot
of several acres, upon which he built his home.
Here he spent much of his leisure time in the
planting and cultivation of fruit, and within a few
years possessed the choicest orchard to be found
in the whole region about. He was a close ob-
server, and speedily became an accomplished
pomologist and an excellent authority on the
character and habits of insects injurious to the
orchard.

Agricultural periodicals and publications relat-
ing to farming, fruit culture, and stock raising
were ever favorite reading for him, and he was a
frequent contributor to many of the leading jour-
nals on all of these subjects. He was especially
interested in improved methods of cultivation, the
introduction of labor-saving implements and ma-
chinery, and in the improvement of the breeds of
domestic animals. He was one of the original
founders of the Tompkins County Agricultural

122 EZRA CORNELL.

and Horticultural Society, and devoted much time
and labor to the success of its exhibitions dur-
ing the early years of its existence. As early as
1840, Mr. Cornell purchased at the cattle show of
the American Institute, a superior thoroughbred,
short-horn bull, named " Arab ; " a number of
pure bred South-down sheep, and a pair of Berk-
shire pigs, which he brought to Ithaca for the im-
provement of the domestic stock of the Tompkins
County farmers. These were the first pure bred
animals which were ever brought into that county,
and were greatly admired by all lovers of fine
stock. "Arab" proved an extremely valuable sire,
and the result of his breeding with the native
stock was such as to make his name remembered
for many years after he had passed away ; and not
a few of the most celebrated milking families of
cows, which at this time are so numerous in that
excellent dairy region, are indebted to him for their
good qualities. The benefit of the new blood on
the sheep and swine of the locality was also of
marked character, but of course it did not attract
so much attention as in the case of the cattle.

Constantly engrossing occupation in the tele-
graph field, covering a period of about a dozen
years, kept Mr. Cornell so continually engaged
as to prohibit any considerable attention to agricul-
tural affairs. When, however, by the successful

SHOR T HORNS. 1 2 3

organization of the Western Union Company, he
was relieved in large measure from personal re-
sponsibility, and enabled to withdraw somewhat
from the direct supervision of his telegraph inter-
ests, he resumed his rural habits with all of the
enthusiasm of a novice.

Governed by an impulse never before fully sat-
isfied, in the spring of 1857 he purchased a su-
perior farm of about three hundred acres, adjoining
the village of Ithaca, upon which he established
the residence of his family. Here he planted ex-
tensive orchards, and conducted many experi-
ments in agricultural science for the purpose of
demonstrating various theories which were advo-
cated by progressive minds. He gathered here,
also, a magnificent herd of Short Horn cattle,
which attracted visitors and customers from every
section of the United States. It embraced rep-
resentatives of the most valuable families of this
celebrated breed, many of them acquired at prices
which would have been deemed fabulous by per-
sons not familiar with the current value of such
animals.

He imported Short Horns, and also South-down
sheep, from England, besides making extensive
purchases from the best herds in New York
and Kentucky. The " Forest Park " cattle were for
many years prominent in the exhibition rings of the

124 EZRA CORNELL.

New York State Agricultural Fairs, and animals
of Mr. Cornell's raising were sold to breeders
in at least twenty different States, some, indeed,
going to England— many single animals selling at
prices ranging all the way from $i,oco to $10,000
each. This celebrated herd of cattle, which had
attained an enviable repute, was finally dispersed,
some years after the death of its owner, on ac-
count of the principal part of the homestead farm
going into the possession of the University as a
portion of his munificent endowment.

The Farmers' Club at Ithaca owed its exist-
ence and much of its prosperity to Mr. Cornell's
active support and generous patronage. It was
organized at a meeting of the leading farmers and
fruit-growers of that and the adjoining towns,
which was convened upon his invitation. At his
own expense he maintained a club and reading-
room, which was provided with an excellent col-
lection of literature appropriate to the subjects of
consideration, including most of the agricultural
journals of America and some of European publi-
cation. Meetings were held weekly, at which
subjects of especial interest were discussed, and
not unfrequently carefully prepared papers were
read by members of the club. Mr. Cornell was
a regular attendant on those occasions, and took
an active part in the discussions with his neigh-

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 125

bors. In erecting the Cornell Library building,
lie arranged a large and handsome room, which
he dedicated to the use of the Farmers' Club, suit-
able for its gatherings, and also for library and
museum purposes.

In 1858 Mr. Cornell was elected to the presi-
dency of the Tompkins County Agricultural and
Horticultural Society, and, by earnest efforts, he
succeeded in enlisting a renewed participation in
the affairs of the society among the farmers of
the county. The annual fairs, which were held
under his administration, were the most successful
in the history of the organization, thus placing its
financial affairs in a highly prosperous condition.
Mr. Cornell was for many years a life member of
the New York State Agricultural Society, and
was accustomed to devote much time and atten-
tion to the duties of its Executive Committee, of
which he was for a number of years a member.
He contributed much to the success of the annual
exhibitions, and it was his usual practice to be in
attendance throughout these interesting occasions.
In 1862 he was chosen President of the society,
and in that capacity attended the great Interna-
tional Exposition at London, as the official rep-
resentative of the New York State Agricultural

o

Society, where he was the recipient of marked
attention and courtesies.

126 EZRA CORNELL.

This was the first, and, as it proved, the only
visit to Europe which it was Mr. Cornell's good
fortune to make, and, as may well be imagined,
it was to him an occasion of the most absorbing
interest. With his wide practical knowledge and
useful habits of observation, he saw and appre-
ciated much that would have escaped the atten-
tion of travellers, who fail to utilize their oppor-
tunities. Sailing from New York in May, 1862,
by the Inman steamship City of Baltimore, he
was accompanied by Mrs. Cornell and the Secre-
tary of the State Agricultural Society. After an
extremely rough passage, considering the season
of the year, he arrived in Liverpool early in June,
and proceeded immediately to the discharge of
his official duties in connection with the Exposi-
tion, devoting several weeks to these labors. He
next visited a number of the noted Short Horn
herds of England, and made some purchases of
choice representatives of this popular breed of
animals for his herd at Forest Park, as well also
as some South-down sheep. He travelled exten-
sively throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland, occupying for this purpose nearly a
month of his valuable time.

After having visited the most accessible points
of attraction in the British islands, Mr. Cornell, ac-
companied by his wife and other friends, proceeded

EUROPEAN TRAVEL. 127

to the Continent of Europe, and devoted several
weeks to a hurried trip through France, Switzer-
land, Holland, Germany, and Austria, visiting such
places of special interest as the limited time at
their command would permit. He was an enthu-
siastic admirer of the architectural wonders of the
European cities, and greatly enjoyed the oppor-
tunity of inspecting many of the grand Cathedrals
within the range of his journey. The necessity
of returning to London to complete his official
engagement in connection with the Exposition,
obliged him to curtail his continental travel much
within the limit of his desires, and he was unable
to resume it, owing to the necessity of his re-
turning home in time to give personal super-
vision to the annual fair of the State Society in
September. This exhibition occurred in the
darkest year of the war for the suppression of
the great rebellion, and although the country was
in the very depths of gloom, the -fair was, consid-
ering all circumstances, a grand success.

As President of the State Agricultural Society,
Mr. Cornell was, ex officio, a trustee of the New
York State Agricultural College, then located on
the site of the present Willard Asylum for the In-
sane, at Ovid, Seneca County. This institution
owed its existence to the efforts of leading ag-
riculturists of the State, to provide for furnishing

128 EZRA CORNELL.

instruction in the various sciences relating to
agriculture and its kindred pursuits. Substan-
tially all of the funds so generously provided for
the college had been expended in the purchase
of a magnificent estate of several hundred acres,
and in the erection of a large and imposing college
edifice.

The institution was quite destitute of proper
equipment, and was wholly wanting in endowment
to aid in its support. Its doors had been opened
for the admission of students the preceding year,
but the youth of the State responded in meagre
numbers. Upon entering the management Mr.
Cornell found the College languishing for want
of an adequate income to give it vitality. The
object of its organization greatly interested him,
and after a thorough examination into the condi-
tion of its affairs, he proposed to the trustees that,
if the institution were removed and located at Ith-
aca, he would endow it with a fund of $300,000
for its maintenance, in case the Legislature would
donate to it one-half of the College Land Grant
Fund, which had been provided by Congress
for the support of agricultural and mechanical
colleges.

This fund had already been appropriated in fa-
vor of an embryo college located at Havana,
Schuyler County, called the People's College, but

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 129

this was not regarded as a suitable disposition
of it, and there was considerable dissatisfaction
on this account. The controversy which ensued
was diversified by a demand on the part of sev-
eral colleges for a division of the fund amongst
them. This sentiment became so strong that the
more intelligent friends of education became
alarmed for fear this princely donation from the
general government, consisting of nine hundred
and ninety thousand acres of the public lands,
might be wholly dissipated and rendered useless
by division into small portions among existing
colleges.

The Legislature thereupon directed the board of
Regents of the University to investigate and in-
quire into the condition of the People's College,
and report as to the adequacy of that institution
to meet the requirements of the acts by which it
had been made the beneficiary of the Land Grant
Fund. Their report was adverse to the pretentions
of the People's College, whereupon legislation was
promoted resulting in the incorporation of the Cor-
nell University, which will be the subject of more
extended observation in a subsequent chapter.

The act of incorporation of the Cornell Uni-
versity provided that it should be located in " the
town of Ithaca," and that " the farm and grounds
to be occupied by said corporation, whereon its

9

130 EZRA CORNELL.

buildings shall be erected, in such manner and to
such extent as the trustees may from time to time
direct and provide for, shall consist of not less than
two hundred acres." Upon the organization of
the University it was the unanimous voice of all
concerned that Mr. Cornell's farm was beyond
comparison the most eligible and advantageous
site that could be selected within the "town of
Ithaca," to which the authority of the trustees
was confined by the charter ; and whoever may
have been privileged to view the institution in its
developed form, may be safely depended upon to
declare that no more magnificent or appropriate
location could have been selected within the broad
domain of the entire State, had such a choice been
authorized.

Although the board of trustees would have
been entirely justified in purchasing the farm at
its full value, Mr. Cornell demonstrated his entire
unselfishness in dictating the location of the Uni-
versity at Ithaca, by presenting to the trustees a
warranty deed of the property, without fee or
reward of any kind, thus adding the value of the
farm to his already magnificent endowment of half
a million dollars. This disposition of his farm
and incessant occupation in promoting the va-
rious interests of the University during all the re-
mainder of his life, rendered it impracticable for

FACILITIES NEGLECTED. 131

him to devote himself further to the gratification
of rural tastes.

In the charter of the Cornell University, agri-
culture is named first in order as one of the sub-
jects of education, and in the arrangement of the
special faculties in the general organization of
the University, that of " Agriculture " is given the
place of rank. This predominance, which is in
proper accord with the original act of Congress
creating the Land Grant Fund, was given to that
particular subject in deference to the expressed
wish of Mr. Cornell. Throughout the entire ca-
reer of the University the faculty has been kept
especially strong in its membership in all of the
branches of learning related to that science, and
the fact that this course has attracted less pa-
tronage from the young men of the State than
any other principal department is, certainly, no
fault of the University authorities. The meagre
development of this branch of the University
course can only be attributed to the general in-
difference of the farmers of the State to the edu-
cation of their sons in the higher branches of
agricultural science. The neglect of these val-
uable facilities by the farming interests was, to
the generous founder, the cause of deep and sin-
cere regret, although in every other direction the
University was a complete and gratifying success.

CHAPTER XI.

PUBLIC LIFE.

Duty of Citizens. — Activity in Public Affairs. — Political Manage-
ment.— Delegate to first National Republican Convention. —
Fremont.— Seward. — Lincoln. — Elected to State Assembly. —
Re-elected. — State Senator. — Second Term. — Declines farther
Service. — Legislative Labors. — Measures Supported. — Official
Fidelity.

POPULAR government, like ours, based on an ex-
tremely liberal and extended elective franchise,
constantly demands the considerate attention of all
classes of reputable citizens to securely protect
the public interest from injury by prejudicial in-
fluences. The very liberality of the franchise,
and especially the extraordinary facility for attain-
ing citizenship, affords constant temptation for
those having slight concern in the public welfare
to seize every opportunity for abusing the great
privileges thus generously granted them. It is
the more to be regretted, therefore, that any class
of intelligent and prosperous citizens should be
inclined to avoid the duty of active participation
in the direction and conduct of public affairs.
Worthy and commendable in every other respect,

PUBLIC D UTIES. 1 3 3

as in truth it must be admitted, the Quakers are
certainly disposed to evade this duty. Having
large property interests at stake, and thus pecu-
liarly exposed to the evils of improvident and un-
wise administration, it is particularly unfortunate
that they, as a class, should not cheerfully exercise
the influence in public concerns to which they are
justly entitled. By no other dangers are our
free institutions more seriously menaced than by
the habitual and inexcusable neglect of appro-
priate political duties by prosperous and self-re-
specting citizens.

Quite in contrast with the ordinary custom and
peculiarity of the Quaker people in this respect,
Mr. Cornell was accustomed, from early manhood,
to take an active part in public concerns. Whether
this variation from the traditions and practices of
the ancestry from which he descended was due to,
or influenced by, the discipline administered to him
as punishment for marrying out of the sect, cannot
be stated with any degree of certainty. What-
ever the cause may have been, it is a fact, well
known to those acquainted with him, that he was,
far beyond the average of men, interested in man-
agement and direction of public affairs. In the
early years of his career it was customary for
him to exercise a potent influence in the determi-
nation of events, not only in the school district,

134 EZRA CORNELL.

but as well in the local affairs of the village, town,
and county. He was an ardent Whig in politics,
and occupied an influential position in the coun-
sels of that party.

Always alert and energetic in any cause in
which he enlisted, Mr. Cornell was enabled to
render valuable service to his party organization
as a member of its local committees. For a period
of a dozen years after making his residence at
Ithaca he was accustomed to give much attention
to the details of political work. He was neither
an office-holder nor an office-seeker, but he felt it
a patriotic duty to contribute his mite to the ad-
vancement of those political interests which rep-
resented his peculiar faith. He had an admira-
ble faculty for promoting systematic organization
which enabled him to forecast results and thus
more effectually to accomplish success otherwise
unattainable. He was especially active in the
great Log Cabin campaign of 1840, which re-
sulted in the elevation of General Harrison to the
Presidency. The lamented death of the new
President within a month of his inauguration was
a sad blow to the partisans who had labored so
zealously for his election.

Absence from home much of the time subse-
quent to 1842, and the pre-occupation of his
mind consequent upon the constant and absorb-

REPUBLICAN PARTY. 135

ing labors in the development of the telegraph en-
terprise, diverted Mr. Cornell almost wholly from
attention to local politics for many years. Although
continuing his affiliation with the Whig party, and
taking a lively interest in the general political
questions of the State and Nation, he took no
part in the direction of partisan matters at home
until the organization of the Republican party.

His sympathies had always been in accord with
the anti-slavery element of the Whig party, so
that, when a general re-organization of the great
parties resulted from conflict on the question of
limiting the extension of slavery into free terri-
tory, it found him enlisted as a determined oppo-
nent of the slave power. Mr. Cornell was one
of the delegates representing the State of New
York in the first Republican National Convention,
that assembled in Pittsburgh in February, 1856.

In the great Free Soil campaign of that year
he took an extremely active part in support of
John C. Fremont as the Republican candidate
for the Presidency, and he was a generous con-
tributor in support of the Republican party in all
of the succeeding years, until it finally accom-
plished the complete success of its candidates in the
general election of 1860. Mr. Cornell very ear-
nestly favored the nomination of Governor Sew-
ard for the Presidency, in the latter year, but,

136 EZRA CORNELL.

with equal earnestness supported the candidacy
of Mr. Lincoln when he was selected as the
Presidential nominee by the action of the Na-
tional Convention. The Republicans of New York
were sorely disappointed by the failure to secure
the promotion of Governor Seward at Chicago,
and nothing in the political history of the country
illustrates more honorable devotion in behalf of
party organization, than the remarkably faithful
support which was accorded to Mr. Lincoln in the
Empire State in the campaign which ensued.

In the autumn of 1861 Mr. Cornell was placed
in nomination by the Republican Convention of
Tompkins County for the office of member of
Assembly of the State of New York This action
was taken without his knowledge, and was the
spontaneous and unanimous tribute of the repre-
sentative Republicans of the county, in recog-
nition of his generous services rendered in be-
half of the soldiers and their families during the
first year of the civil war. He accepted the
nomination in the spirit in which it was tendered,
and was elected by a very large majority, receiving
a vote numbering considerably in excess of his
party candidates. His services in the Assembly
proved so satisfactory to his constituents, that he
was the following year re-nominated by acclama-
tion and re-elected by a largely increased majority.

MEMBER OF ASSEMBLY. 137

In the second Assembly of which Mr. Cornell
was a member, that of 1863, the Republican and
Democratic parties were evenly divided, each
having sixty-four members, and, as a natural con-
sequence, a deadlock ensued as to the choice of
Speaker and the other officers of the House. Thus
a prolonged and bitter partisan struggle was in-
augurated, which was continued, with constantly
increasing acrimony, for a period of three weeks
before an organization of the Assembly was finally
effected. The extraordinary excitement, incident
to the abnormal condition of the country during
the progress of the war, tended to heighten the
ardor which would ordinarily attend such an oc-
casion. Few contests of this nature — certainly
none in this State — have been productive of so
much political feeling and asperity.

Heartily tired of service in the Assembly, espe-
cially in view of the unpleasant incidents of the
Speakership contest of his second session, a very
agreeable change was experienced by Mr. Cor-
nell in his subsequent legislative career. In the
fall of 1863 the Republicans of Tompkins County
designated him as their choice for nomination
as State Senator, for the twenty-fourth district,
composed of the counties of Broome, Tioga, and
Tompkins. No candidate was presented on be-
half of the other counties, and he was conse-

138 EZRA CORNELL.

quently nominated for that office without oppo-
sition in the district convention. At the ensuing
election he was duly chosen by a very large vote
in the aggregate, having been honored with a
handsome majority in each of the several coun-
ties comprising the district.

The Senate proved far more congenial to his
tastes and habits than the Assembly, and he took
rank in the smaller and more appreciative body,
more in conformity with his practical abilities and
large experience in affairs. His success in the
representation of the district, during the first two
years of service in the Senate, was very signal-
ly attested by the fact that, at the expiration of
the term, he was re-nominated by acclamation by
the delegates of his party from the three coun-
ties, in district convention assembled, without the
dissent of a single voice. This very complimen-
tary action of partisan friends, was in due order
ratified by the electors of the district in Novem-
ber following, when he received still more flatter-
ing evidences of public appreciation. Returning
with a renewed commission, Mr. Cornell found
the Senate very much changed in its personnel,
containing as it did twenty-five new Senators.

This circumstance was calculated to greatly
enhance the relative influence of the few old
Senators, in the disposition of business coming

STATE SENATOR. 139

before them, as well as to increase their labors.
Mr. Cornell devoted himself to Senatorial duties
with great assiduity until the close of his second
term, in 1867, when he positively declined a re-
election, which awaited him with great unanimity.
Having thus served six years continuously in the
Legislature — two years in the Assembly and four
in the Senate — he felt that he had fairly earned
exemption from further service. Besides, hav-
ing taken upon himself the burden of locating
and managing the public lands for the benefit of
the University, he felt desirous of dedicating his
undivided energies to that important work.

As a member of the Legislature, Mr. Cornell
gave his earnest support to all measures which
were calculated to strengthen the cause of the
Union in the struggle for its maintenance. The
vigorous manner in which the law-making power
of the State of New York sustained the federal
authorities in their conflict with the rebellion, was
one of the most important elements of final victory.
The act extending to the New York soldiers in
the field, in distant States, the facilities of voting
for President at their homes, by sending their
votes to designated friends to be cast for them,
was very cordially supported by him.

The subjects which, next to the preservation
of the Union, occupied Mr. Cornell's attention

140 EZRA CORNELL.

more especially, were those of agriculture and
public education. He regarded one as the foun-
dation of the material prosperity of the State, and
the other as the safeguard of the liberties of the
people, and that its general dissemination would,
more than anything else, serve to perpetuate
our free institutions. He therefore gave partic-
ular attention to the consideration and promotion
of various questions which he deemed advanta-
geous to these interests. The first legislation
providing stringent regulations to guard against
the spread of contagious diseases among cattle
was due to his influence. Under it the Governor
was invested with extraordinary power, through
agents acting in his name and under his direction,
to quarantine herds of cattle ; to kill all animals
which had been exposed to or were likely to be
contaminated by disease, and providing for in-
demnifying owners from the State treasury.

At frequent intervals, during the last few years,
by the wise exercise of these arbitrary powers
under executive direction, numerous very threat-
ening outbreaks of pleuro-pneumonia have been
suppressed, and devastation of the great dairy
and cattle interests of the State has been safely
guarded against. Mr. Cornell introduced and
passed, against great opposition, a bill to pro-
hibit the running at large of animals in the streets

MEASURES SUPPORTED. HI

and highways of the State. The immediate effect
of this action was to bring upon the devoted
head of its author, the dire vengeance of those
who deemed that they were to be deprived of
the natural right of pasturing their animals in the
public roadway. The manifest propriety of the
provision, won the majority of people to its sup-
port, and the intolerable nuisance, once so preva-
lent, of cattle roaming at will in public, has been
almost entirely eradicated, thus permitting the re-
moval of fences and the adornment of lawns of
many a rural village throughout the State. Though
of trifling interest compared with other public
measures, the effect of this reform has been mar-
velous, when realized, and the present situation
contrasted with the old.

Many other acts were promoted by the advo-
cacy of Mr. Cornell, but which need not receive
especial mention in this connection. He was a
member of the finance committee of the Sen-
ate, and devoted close attention to the consid-
eration of financial questions. He was an un-
compromising advocate of sustaining the credit of
the State by payment of the principal and in-
terest of the public debt in specie, in accordance
with the true spirit of the contract under which
the obligation was incurred. In providing for
extraordinary expenditures incident to the pros-

142 EZRA CORNELL.

ecution of the war for the suppression of the re-
bellion, Mr. Cornell insisted that ample provision
should be made for the creation of sinking funds
for the gradual extinction of liabilities created.

Under the salutary operation of these wisely
framed statutes the State has long since dis-
charged every dollar of the war debt, and, indeed,
of all other State indebtedness, except a small
remnant of the Canal Fund debt, not yet ma-
tured, but for which complete provision is made
in the collection of an annual contribution to the
sinking fund for this purpose, which will entirely ex-
tinguish that obligation before its maturity, and
within a very few years from the present time.
The bill for the incorporation of the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was zeal-
ously supported by Mr. Cornell, and the final pas-
sage of the measure, which was vigorously resisted
by an influential lobby, was due largely to his
vigilance and persistence in its behalf. The ex-
tremely valuable results which have followed the
enactment of this measure have more than vindi-
cated the wisdom of its promoters.

While not endowed with any considerable facil-
ity for public speaking and, therefore, taking but
little part in the formal discussions of the Assem-
bly or Senate, Mr. Cornell was accustomed to
state his views on public questions with a brevity

OFFICIAL FIDELITY. 143

and clearness of expression, which, supported by
his well-merited repute for practical good sense,
gave his voice more than ordinary weight of au-
thority. He was indefatigable in attention to his
duties, and rendered invaluable service in the
work of the committee room. His wide range
of experience and extended knowledge of many
subjects gave him an enviable influence in the
disposition of business before committees of which
he was a member.

The truthfulness of his character and the fairness
with which he was accustomed to treat all ques-
tions coming before him for consideration, gave
him in general the unreserved confidence of his
associates, and his position in support of, or in
opposition to, a measure was almost sure to carry
others with him. While he was habitually public-
spirited in reference to the expenditure of State
funds for meritorious purposes, he was especially
pronounced in his opposition to useless or ex-
travagant measures. In the discharge of official
duty he was governed solely by his own view
of the public interest. Neither the solicitation
of friends nor the menace of opponents was ef-
fective in influencing him in the performance of
what he believed to be his sworn duty. No more
resolute and unimpeachable member of the Legis-
lature ever sat in either house.

CHAPTER XII.
\

THE CIVIL WAR.

Anti-Slavery Agitation. — Personal Observations. — Opposition to
Slavery Extension. — Repeal of Missouri Compromise. — Free
Territories. — Republican Success. — Treasonable Teachings.
—The Great Rebellion. — Call for Troops. — Sustaining the
Government. — Encouraging Enlistments. — Care of Volun-
teers' Families. — Comfort of the Soldiers. — Visiting Battle-
fields and Hospitals. — Aiding the Sick and Wounded. — Care
of Orphans. — Restoration of the Union. — Sustaining the
Veterans.

IN the long-continued and never-ending contro-
versy over the slavery question, Mr. Cornell's
sympathies were ever on the side of freedom.
The first serious contention which threatened to
cause forcible conflict with the Federal authority
—the nullification acts of South Carolina — hap-
pened soon after he had attained his majority.
From this period, in all of the various divisions of
political sentiment into which the " irrepressible
conflict " forced itself continuously, or at least at
frequent intervals, during the thirty years which
elapsed prior to its final culmination in open re-
bellion, he was uniformly to be found with the

IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 145

friends of the black race. Though never identi-
fied by political association with that small class
of advanced thinkers who declared themselves
abolitionists, he was nevertheless in full sympa-
thy with their object. Extensive range of travel
through several of the Southern States had given
him more than ordinary opportunity for observ-
ing the evils resulting from slavery, and it was
his belief that the white people themselves suf-
fered but little less than the colored race from
those evils.

He saw that civilization was apparently declin-
ing instead of advancing, and that the great
States of the South were really being dwarfed
by the presence of the institution which their
people so jealously guarded. In his letters
written while journeying in the South, he fre-
quently contrasted the prospects of the two
sections, and clearly predicted the inevitable re-
sults of the constantly increasing advance in
wealth and power which the Northern States
were making as compared with those of the
South.

But while fully sympathizing with the general
objects desired by the abolitionists, Mr. Cornell,
like the great majority of the true friends of free-
dom, was unable to see that the final liberation
of the bondmen was to be hastened by ill-ad-

146 EZRA CORNELL.

vised, premature efforts. He was, therefore, in
full accord with the sentiments of the Republican
party in its declaration of opposition to the farther
extension of slavery. While there might be no
lawful means to eradicate it from its existing lim-
its, it should not thrust itself upon other States
or Territories. Descended as he was from a long
line of Quaker ancestry, every instinct of his na-
ture responded in sympathy with the oppressed.
The only question as to his political classifica-
tion, therefore, was governed by his judgment as
to the most completely effective way in which
ultimate freedom could be insured.

Had the slaveholders been content to accept
the basis of the non-extension of slavery into
new territory, there can be little doubt that their
favorite institution would have remained undis-
turbed within its old limits for many years. The
sentiment in the North was practically unanimous
against interference with slavery within the States
where it then existed. "Those whom GOD wishes
to destroy, He first makes mad." Never was the
significance of this declaration more apparent
than in the results which followed the repeal of
the Missouri compromise. Designed thus to pro-
vide for the introduction of slavery into Kansas
and Nebraska, as well as other new Territories,
an uproar was raised in the North which effect-

FORCING THE ISSUE, 147

ually checked this object. These new States se-
cured to freedom, the result of the next census of
the United States upon the apportionment of
Congressional representation, must inevitably in-
vest the Northern States with the power to control
the Government in any contest over the vexed
question.

It was most undoubtedly this anticipation which
determined the Southern leaders to press on the
issue to final solution in advance of the re-ap-
portionment under the approaching Federal cen-
sus. By many the theory is fully believed that
the Democratic National Convention of 1860 was
purposely divided and forced to make dual nomi-
nations, in order to insure the election of the Re-
publican canditates, and thus force the issue of
secession by appealing to the bigoted resentments
of the Southern people.

Like an overwhelming proportion of the North-
ern people, Mr. Cornell was unable to realize the
possibility of actual war as the result of the tri-
umph of the free-soil sentiment in the election
of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. The highly
extravagant declarations of Southern speakers
and the Southern press were regarded as bravado,
intended to frighten the North from its purpose
of resisting the spread of slavery. The operations
of Buchanan's War and Navy Departments, in

148 EZRA CORNELL.

transferring war material from the Northern de-
positories to others in the South, and in dispersing
the vessels of war to far-distant and inaccessible
stations, were not generally appreciated until too
late for remedy. Even with the perfectly undis-
guised preparations for war, which were so vigor-
ously carried on in the Southern States, during
all of the time intervening between the election
of Mr. Lincoln in November, and his inauguration
in the following March, it seemed impossible for
law-abiding citizens of the free States to realize
that a conflict of arms was really to come.

The teachings of those who preferred slavery to
the perpetuation of the Union, which had been
so generally disseminated throughout the slave
States for a whole generation, had, however, done
great work. The Southern people were terror-
ized by what they regarded as the real significance
of the crisis which was approaching. With the
success of the Republican cause in 1860, the limit
to the extension of slavery would become a fixed
fact, and the Territories would be dedicated to the
cause of freedom, only to produce free States for
future admission to the Union. This they con-
strued to mean the gradual but ultimate fall of
slavery, and being fully resolved that this should
not come without resistance, they reasoned that
they were then relatively stronger for the conflict

THE CIVIL WAR. 149

than they ever would be again. The prodigious
development of the free States would inevitably
make the struggle the more desperate by any
delay.

Thus the conflict was approached with full
determination and equipment on the one hand,
and with almost fatal blindness and lack of
preparation on the other. No sooner, however,
had the unmistakable signal of war been sounded
— as it was by the firing of the rebel battery upon
the walls of Fort Sumter — than the loyal North
was aroused to instant and complete realization of
the situation. Like the sudden awakening of
a sleeping giant, the free States arose in the
grandeur of their strength, with unquestioned de-
termination that the integrity of the Union should
be maintained and vindicated — that no star should
be blotted from the flag of freedom.

The call of President Lincoln for volunteers to
sustain the authority of the Government was re-
sponded to with alacrity and enthusiasm through-
out the Northern States. Communities vied with
each other in the promptitude with which they
furnished their quotas of troops. The first neces-
sity to promote enlistments was suitable provision
for the maintenance of the families of those who
should go forth to battle. In this patriotic work
Mr. Cornell took the lead in the community of his

EZRA CORNELL.

residence. He headed a public subscription with
a generous contribution, and, by his influence, a
large sum was raised for the care of these depend-
ents. He accepted the chairmanship of the com-
mittee of disbursement, and devoted much time
and personal labor to the painstaking distribution
of this fund to the families entitled to participate
therein, making extremely careful inquiry into
the circumstances pertaining to each family, in
order to provide for the faithful administration of
the trust, in accordance with the compact under
which the enlistments were secured.

As the war progressed, and the struggle length-
ened into months and years, Mr. Cornell busied
himself in visiting the armies and the hospitals
in looking after the personal comfort of the sol-
diers from his locality. He was at Washington
at the time of the first battle at Bull Run, and on
the Sunday morning of that event, he proceeded
to the scene of the conflict, in order to be of any
possible service to those who might suffer from
the casualties of the expected battle. Many gal-
lant fellows had occasion to remember, with grate-
ful feelings, the thoughtful kindness of Ezra Cor-
nell, in seeking them out and ministering to their
peculiar necessities. The fatalities of the bat-
tle-field, however, were by no means the worst
terrors which menaced the life of the soldier.

CARE OF THE SOLDIERS. l*>\

Disease claims many more victims than the bul-
let.

The hospitals were full of those suffering from
all sorts of illnesses, and when, added to other
disease, homesickness had taken possession of a
victim, his case was desperate indeed. Mental
depression, added to physical prostration, was
almost sure to bring a fatal ending. Not a few
such were found languishing for the soothing care
of the loved ones at home, when with patience,
and the most unselfish devotion, Mr. Cornell
would follow the wearisome technicalities of the
military service until he secured the necessary fur-
lough or discharge, and then at his own expense,
and under his personal care, conduct the in-
valids to homes and friends. Numbers were saved
to future usefulness, and not unfrequently returned
to the service full of renewed vigor, who, but
for Mr. Cornell's considerate attention, would
have early filled soldiers' graves. Until the final
ending of the war, when the rebellion was con-
quered, and the authority of the Federal Govern-
ment was once more completely restored through-
out all of our broad domain, Mr. Cornell was unre-
mitting in his devotion to the cause of the Union,
in promoting enlistments, and in contributing to
the comfortable maintenance of the soldiers and
their families. He was, in every sense of the term,

152 EZRA CORNELL.

the soldier's friend, while to many of them he was,
in very truth, a " good Samaritan."

The dependent families of the patriots who sac-
rificed their lives in the service of their country,
were, to Mr. Cornell, subjects of especial interest
and solicitude. He felt that the orphaned chil-
dren of the martyrs of the great rebellion, were a
sacred charge upon those for whose benefit their
natural protectors had perilled their lives, and he
was deeply interested in all measures calculated
to promote the welfare and provide for the main-
tenance, comfort, and education of all such, who
chanced to be left without adequate provision.
His purse was ever open to, and his best services
were always at the command of, these unfortunates.
In whatever capacity their appeal reached him,
whether as an individual, as a member of com-
munity, or as an official representative in the Leg-
islature of the State, he ever had a listening ear
and a responsive heart, and it may safely be as-
serted that no meritorious appeal of this character
ever sought him in vain.

The gigantic struggle for the suppression of the
rebellion, and the restoration of the authority of
the Union, was brought to an entirely success-
ful ending by the complete collapse of the rebel
power. Never was a mistaken cause more obsti-
nately defended, nor a loyal cause more gallantly

SUSTAINING THE VETERANS. 153

supported than in the conflict thus finished. The
grand army of the Union was, perhaps, at the
very maximum of its strength, when its usefulness
was thus suddenly arrested. Within a few weeks,
hundreds of thousands of the veterans of the war
were mustered out of service, only to meet each
other as competitors for civil employment.

Fortunately, their return to ordinary pursuits
happened at a time of remarkable prosperity in the
country, and the labor of willing hands generally
found ready employment. Many, however, by
the effect of wounds or sickness, were rendered
incapable of discharging duties with which they
were previously familiar. These were especially
the wards of Mr. Cornell. He provided many of
them with artificial limbs, and devoted much time
to aid them in securing employment suited to their
capacities. Some were furnished with the means
of educating themselves to new pursuits, while
others were provided with capital and credit to
enable them to engage in business. Many a vet-
eran of the Union cause is now in prosperous
circumstances from the help received from this
patriotic benefactor, who, but for the timely aid
thus rendered, must inevitably have suffered from
inability to pursue his ordinary vocation. Mr. Cor-
nell was eminently practicable in his charities, as
in all other characteristics. He delighted to help

154 EZRA CORNELL.

those who would profit by his aid, and it was his
custom to so direct his efforts in behalf of those
needing assistance, that momentum might be given
toward self-support and independence. It was
ever by him considered a privilege as well as
a duty to serve, in any possible manner, those
who served their country in the time of its great
need.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CORNELL LIBRARY.

Generous Inspirations. — Projecting a Free Public Library. — Con-
ference with Citizens. — Founding the Cornell Library. — Erect-
ing the Edifice.— Its Cost. — Germs of the Library. — Income
for its Support. — Inauguration Ceremonies. — The Founder's
Address. — Formal Presentation. — Acceptance of Trustees by
Hon. Benjamin G. Ferris. — Address of Hon. William H.
Bogart. — Contribution of Books. — Subsequent Management.
— Conclusion.

THE too frequent result of extraordinary success
in business, or in the accumulation of fortune,
seems to be to create ambition for still farther
achievement in the same direction. Men are sel-
dom inclined to stop when they have acquired an
ample competence and devote themselves to the
higher duties of life. They press on and not un-
frequently make themselves the slaves of their
gigantic operations, wearing out their lives in use-
less toil and care. To this general rule the sub-
ject of this sketch was certainly an exception.

In the pursuit of fortune no man could have de-
voted himself more assiduously than Mr. Cornell
did to the success of his telegraph ventures. For

1$6 EZRA CORNELL.

ten years his labors were incessant, and the
tasks he accomplished would have completely
discouraged a less resolute man. Often he would
spend every night of a week in travelling and oc-
cupy the intervening days in the transaction of
business which constantly demanded his attention
in widely separated localities. When success was
fairly reached, he retired from active participation
in business and devoted himself to the more agree-
able duties of agricultural experiment and study.
This gave him leisure to take suitable observation
of surrounding circumstances. Ithaca had been his
residence during all of his years of manhood, and
though called from it much of the time for a num-
ber of years, he always returned to the home of
his choice with feelings of gladness.

Thus at the age of fifty he found himself inde-
pendent of further labor, and in the enjoyment of
a liberal income. He was inspired with an am-
bition to do something to adorn and improve the
village, and at the same time to benefit the rising
generation, and encourage them to endeavors for
higher mental cultivation. It is not unlikely that
recollection of the meagre facilities for educa-
tion, which were within reach in his younger
days, had something to do with the particular
direction of his benefaction. The impediments
which he had encountered at different times in

FOUNDING A LIBRARY. 157

trying to utilize for his own purposes the facilities
of some of the great Libraries in leading cities
made him desire to see such an institution free
from the restraints he had met with. He there-
fore resolved to establish at Ithaca, a Public Li-
brary which should be free for the use of every
resident of the County of Tompkins.

Having become fixed in this purpose, Mr. Cor-
nell took occasion to call into his confidence a few
leading citizens, with a view of perfecting suitable
plans and arranging such an organization as would
insure the most careful attention in the future
administration of the trust. The gentlemen who
were invited to the conference entered cordially
into the merits of the proposed institution, giving
much useful assistance in the initiatory work, and
have continued, through the many intervening
years, to render valuable service in the direction
of the Library.

It was, in the first place, Mr. Cornell's idea to
devote $20,000 to the erection of a Librar)/ build-
ing, and $30,000 for books. Further considera-
tion, however, convinced him that the institution
should be possessed of means of self-support, and
under the advice of the associated citizens, he
finally concluded to erect a building, which should
contain apartments for rent sufficient to produce
the desired income, and leave the books to be

158 EZRA CORNELL.

provided by gradual accumulation. He then pur-
chased an eligible site on a prominent corner ad-
jacent to the business centre of the village, and
in the spring of 1863 began the erection of what
is now known as the Cornell Library.

The edifice is of brick, 64 by 104 feet in size ;
three stories and basement ; containing, besides
the library fitted to receive thirty thousand vol-
umes, a fine lecture hall, 50 by 60 feet, with gallery,
and several apartments for business purposes, de-
signed to furnish an income for the care and main-
tenance of the Library, which it was estimated
would amount to at least $3,000 per annum. The
cost of the site and building was $61,676, besides
$4,000 for books, all paid for by Mr. Cornell,
conveyed by trust deed to the trustees of the
Cornell Library Association, and delivered to
them in the presence of a crowded meeting of
citizens of Ithaca and vicinity, assembled in the
Library Hall on the evening of the twentieth of
December, 1866. During the day the building
had been decorated with flags by appreciative citi-
zens, and the lecture room was tastefully trimmed,
with the name of the founder wrought in ever-
greens. The weather was intensely cold, but at an
early hour every available portion of the hall was
crowded, while the firing of cannon and the exul-
tant ringing of the village bells gave voice to the

PRESENTA TION. 1 59

general appreciation of the generous gift to the
public.

In his address of presentation Mr. Cornell
said :

Ladies and Gentlemen: I have invited you to assemble this
evening to witness the consummation of a long-cherished purpose
— the establishment of a Public Library in the village of Ithaca,
" the use of which shall be free to all residents of the County of
Tompkins," an institution which I trust will be found useful in
increasing the knowledge and elevating the moral and religious
standard of the people. It may not be deemed improper on an
occasion like this to refer briefly to the history of the progress of the
undertaking ; the motives which prompted it, controlled the plans
of the edifice, and fashioned the organization to which the trust
and management of the property will now be committed.

The conception of the undertaking may be traced to a settled
conviction in my mind of the unwise policy, so prevalent in men
of large means, of deferring until death their benevolent plans,
and committing them, by their last will and testament, to the exe-
cution of unwilling heirs, indifferent executors or administrators, or
selfish trustees.

The results of the noble and wise example of Peter Cooper,
as contrasted with the equally well-meaning but less successful
example of Stephen Girard, led me to decide in favor of the former,
and to adopt a policy which might be executed, in part at least,
during my lifetime, thus giving me the opportunity of aiding in
the execution of my plans, and enjoying the benefits while living
which may flow from them.

After giving a detailed description of the edi-
fice, the uses for which the several apartments
were designed, and the particulars relating to the
progress of its erection, he said :

160 EZRA CORNELL.

The sums which have been collected for rents up to the present
time amount to $1,965, and there will have accrued by the coming
first of January the further sum of $534. These sums have been
held as the property of the Library Association, and payments for
maintenance to the amount of about $1,500 have been made from
them, leaving about $r,ooo in the treasury of the Library at the
commencement of the new year, and may no future New Year's
day find here an empty treasury.

Fellow citizens of Ithaca : This property belongs to you and to
the other citizens of the County of Tompkins. The Board of Trus-
tees to whom I am about to commit the trust and management of
this property are your agents, and it is their duty to manage the
property within the limitations fixed by law, so as to give all the
residents of the County of Tompkins equal privileges and oppor-
tunities in the use and benefits to be derived from this Library.

In the organization of the Board of Trustees, it was my aim
to secure a full and fair representation of the various interests in
the county as far as it was practicable. The pastors of seven of
your churches, the principal of the Academy, and of the public
school, the chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, the
President of the village of Ithaca, and the Chief Engineer of
the Ithaca Fire Department are ex-officio trustees, to which are
added' the names of the founder and six citizens, constituting a
board of nineteen members, and representing, as fully as practi-
cable, all classes and interests.

Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees : Having thus briefly
related the history and stated the present condition of the prop-
erty I am about to commit to your charge, it is perhaps my duty,
and I can assure you it is a very pleasant duty, to address a few
words to you.

By the Act, chapter 126, of the laws of 1864 of the State of
New York, you and your successors in office are created and con-
stituted a body corporate by the name and title of the " Cornell
Library Association," '* the corporate existence of which shall com-
mence when the said Ezra Cornell shall convey to it the lot of land
and edifice hereinbefore mentioned, and shall continue forever."

ACCEPTANCE. l6l

The act on my part which is required, under the law, to give
you official and legal existence as a corporation, I am now about
to perform. For full instruction as to your powers and duties
under the trust you are about to assume, I must refer you to the
above-cited Act and the statutes of this State.

In closing, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I must express the
hope that your administration of this trust will be so impartial, so
wise, and so just that a truthful history of it, which should at all
times be found on your records, will stand as a lasting monument
to your honor through all time.

Mr. Chairman, I now present to you the deed of the property
and the keys of the edifice, and may God bless the enterprise and
make it fruitful to this people in

KNOWLEDGE, TRUTH, AND VIRTUE.

On receiving from Mr. Cornell the trust deed
and the keys of the Library building, the Hon.
Benjamin G. Ferris, who had been designated by
his colleagues of the Board of Trustees, made
the following response in their name.

ADDRESS OF THE HON. BENJAMIN G. FERRIS.

I feel profound gratification in receiving from your hand this
deed and these keys. By this conveyance and these symbols of
possession we become a body corporate, fully organized to carry
out your views, as the donor, and discharge our duties to the pub-
lic, who are the recipients of your bounty.

To simply say we thank you would too coldly express the emotions
which the occasion naturally calls forth. When a private citizen like
yourself steps out of the ordinary round of self-interest, within
which men usually regard and regulate their private fortunes, and
with a lavish hand confers great benefits on the public, language
becomes too feeble to express the gratitude which is felt and
which becomes due.

1 62 EZRA CORNELL.

I know, in speaking of these things, it is not easy to confine
one's self within the limits of good taste. We are apt to run into
the common phrases of laudation and flattery. But at least we
may be permitted to hold up such a case as an example to be fol-
lowed by others. Our country is now full of great fortunes, but
how many counties like Tompkins, how many towns like Ithaca
contain the visible evidences of private munificence for public uses ?
There is many a man who has a large surplus beyond the neces-
sities and luxuries of living, beyond the display of a costly resi-
dence, beyond the full gratification of a taste for fine arts, beyond
the establishment of his family from the contingencies of want.
What becomes of this surplus ? Is it heaped up like Pelion upon
Ossa, as men know how to heap up money, for the mere purposes
of accumulation ? We have, on an occasion like this, the right
to point to this Library, to point to the magnificent structure rear-
ing on yonder eminence and say, " Go AND DO LIKEWISE! "

You, sir, will be neither surprised nor pained to learn that
your motives in making large public donations have been pretty
freely canvassed. Some people have distressed themselves over
the vexed questions as to whether you are influenced by an eye to
future fame, or whether you are trying to undermine the institu-
tions of your country, by building up an aristocracy in your family,
or whether, as those who know you best believe, you really pos-
sess a heart which delights to promote the welfare and happiness
of mankind.

We have no trouble on those points. We accept the gift ; we
take upon ourselves this trust ; and from this moment the COR-
NELL LIBRARY becomes an established institution.

Yet I can scarcely realize that a large Free Public Library,
one which stands up among the great public libraries of the world,
is really founded in Ithaca. In less than the threescore and ten
years allotted to a single life, savages roamed at will through this
pleasant valley, and an Indian wigwam may well have occupied
the very spot on which this building now stands, and in which are
assembled the beauty, fashion, and intelligence of an advanced
stage of civilization, to participate in this inauguration. But his-

ANCIENT LIBRARIES. 163

tory is full of contrasts, and when we reverse the historical tele-
scope, and look back into remote ages, we shall see how small
and feeble were the beginnings of the efforts of mankind for men-
tal culture. Statesmen of all ages have realized the necessity of
storing up the written thoughts of the wise and good for public
benefit ; and this really marks the distinction between civilized
and savage life. Barbarians pass along from one generation to
another, with no change except that which too often indicates a
lower scale of human degradation. The wigwams which here
and there dotted the valley of the Cayuga, were the exact counter-
parts of the wigwams which had been built here for a thousand
years anterior. The Feejee Islander, who now feeds upon human
flesh, but follows the custom of his ancestors for generations past.
But civilization builds step by step upon the thoughts and inven-
tions of each age, until the vast monuments of modern improve-
ment leave us to wonder if there can be anything more to discover.
In the dim light of the past, Egypt seems to have been the
cradle of the arts and sciences. One of its sovereigns, Osyman-
dias, is said to have founded the first public library known to his-
tory. The motto on the building was " The Dispensary of the
Soul." The sculpture upon the walls represented a Judge with
the image of Truth suspended from his neck, and many books or
rolls lying before him. The contents of the library were the
sacred writings of the Egyptians in manuscript, written upon
sheets prepared from the papyrus, a reed growing on the banks of
the Nile, from which our word paper is derived. The length of
these sheets was from one to fifty yards, according to the magnitude
of the works. The manuscript, when complete, was rolled on a staff,
and from this called " volumen," the source of our word volume.
The ends of the staff were usually ornamented with bosses of wood
or ivory, and sometimes with gold, silver, and precious stones.
At an earlier period, stones and metallic substances were used
for writing. The Ten Commandments, we know, were inscribed
on tablets of stone. Joseph speaks of two columns, one of stone,
and the other of brick, on which the children of Seth wrote their
inventions and astronomical discoveries. The works of Hesiod

1 64 EZRA CORNELL.

were written on tablets of lead. Mr. Layard has exhumed from
the ruins of Nineveh writings upon earthen tablets, to the num-
ber of about twenty thousand, constituting, as is supposed, the
Royal Library. The Library of Alexandria, founded by one of
the Ptolemean kings, was undoubtedly the largest of antiquity,
and is said to have consisted at one time of seven hundred thou-
sand rolled manuscripts, the ends protruding from the pigeon-
holes, if, indeed, pigeon-holes were of that date.

There were booksellers, also, in Egypt, and subsequently in
Greece and Rome, of whom the book sought to be purchased
was ordered, as we now go to the tailor and order a coat, and the
book was furnished as soon as it could be copied from an original.
What a change ! Think now of going to one of our bookstores
and ordering a copy of Shakespeare, to be delivered in three
months. At present prices, it would cost enough to pay the ex-
pense of the Cornell Library for well nigh a year.

All the great libraries of the old world commenced in a small
way. The now mammoth library of Paris commenced with only
twenty volumes. That of the University of Oxford had at first only
six hundred volumes, and one of its regulations was : " Let no
scholar occupy a book of the Library above one hour, or two at
most, so that others may be hindered from the use of the same."
During this period books were so scarce that the sale of one was
attended with more formalities than are now observed in transfer-
ring the title of a thousand acres of land. This Institution, how-
ever, thanks to your princely munificence, springs suddenly into
complete life, the full panoplied Minerva from the brain of Jupi-
ter, with its organization and ample endowment for its career of
usefulness.

Each age of the world fancies itself at the limit of improve-
ment The twenty thousand tablets of old Nineveh formed, it was
thought, a perfect library. So, too, thought the Ptolemies, when
proudly viewing the ends of the sticks on which were rolled their
countless manuscripts. It was related of Hercules that he made
a great voyage of discovery. He skirted along the shores of the
Mediterranean in a row-boat, suffering almost as much danger

PROGRESS. 165

from shipwreck as Sir John Franklin among the hummocks of the
Polar regions. When he reached the Straits of Gibraltar, as the
story goes, he erected a pillar on either side of the strait, on
which he inscribed the words :

" NE PLUS ULTRA."

(There is no more beyond.) That to him and those of his time
was the end of the world ; beyond was an illimitable waste of
waters. But beyond this, in time and space, lay marvelous things.
Beyond was the mariner's compass in the hands of Columbus, and
at the end of his voyage lay a mighty continent ; beyond was the
genius of Fulton and steam navigation with voyages around the
world, performed with more safety than Hercules in rowing his
craft half a dozen miles ; beyond was the printing-press, an en-
gine more powerful than the sword ; beyond, too, was the electric
telegraph, by which Jupiter's thunderbolts have been changed into
news-carriers, and we can hear from Mount Olympus in less time
than Puck, in the play, proposed to put a girdle round the earth.

We, too, after these achievements, think we have got to the ter-
minus. But we are grandly mistaken ; we are not yet at the half-
way house. This is a material world, the world of effects upon
which the inner world, the world of causes, is continually pressing
further developments of the power of mind and matter. And the
names of the men who have the power and the will to obey the sa-
cred impulse will be found written with yours in the pages of his-
tory.

The formal address of dedication, which was
next delivered, was listened to with deep and ap-
preciative attention by the great audience. This
admirable feature of the occasion is given in full
in the succeeding chapter.

The Hon. William H. Bogart, of Aurora, who
had been a citizen of Ithaca, and an intimate

166 EZRA CORNELL.

personal friend of Mr. Cornell during the earlier
years of his residence there, was next introduced,
and spoke as follows :

ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM H. BOGART.

Mr. President : There is an adnge in which the few words con-
vey wisdom it is well to heed : " Speech is silver and Silence is
golden." A voice that has so often been heard by you as mine
has been, may wisely think of this before the golden bowl is
broken. It was a pleasant duty to comply with the invitation
which Mr. Cornell sent to me to come here to-night to take part in
the dedication of the Library. My journey hither was amid the
terrible cold of this day, but I found, as I came by the shore
of our broad and pure Cayuga, a picture all around me. I was
coming to a library. Everywhere the library of nature was un-
folded to me, as if recognizing that it had its own part to do in
all the teaching of the soul. While elsewhere the sky was
cloudless, the great chemistry of nature was busy, and the lake
was pouring upward massive clouds of vapor, that indicated its
own warmth and the cold air that was around it. This uttered
the lesson that we darken our own horizon. Our clouds are born
of ourselves. The snow was of such whiteness it seemed the very
image of purity. I knew this could endure only till it felt the
footsteps of man. It was renewing the story of Eden. The trees,
erect and gaunt and leafless, had prepared themselves thus to
meet the tempests of winter, and voices came thence to bid us, in
the chances and changes of this mortal time, to lay aside every
weight and keep no hindrance to our strength. The chill and
pain of the journey had their recompense.

Perhaps it was appropriate that I should take part in the ser-
vice of dedication. Of all around me on this platform, only the
gentleman [Mr. Ferris] who has with such worthy and appropriate
remarks accepted on behalf of the trustees this gift, only himself
and myself were of the associates of the generous giver of this
Library in the days when his task in life had, it may be, in it more of

GOOD RESOLUTIONS. 1 67

the shadow than the sun, when he was vigorously engaged in his
calling of industry, perhaps even then creating in his own mind
the hope, the wish, the plan, that when more genial and more
prosperous influences should be about him, he would leave, with
his fellowmen, good evidence that he had sought to make them
happier ; perhaps even then with some glimpse of the possibility
of that control of the electric fluid which has been developed by
the labors of himself and his associates into the very chief of all
the agencies of power permitted to the custody of man. So it
was fitting that I should be here to share the luxury of witnessing
his reward — I do not say his triumph, his victory — these words
belong to the false state of action formed out of the sorrows of the
fallen.

As I came to this beautiful hall this evening I heard in the
crystal air the bells ring out their clear tones, and the loud can-
non in their deeper voice. I doubt not that as the sounds struck
the hillside and the far valley, men rushed from their hearths to
gather tidings of the cause of this wild alarm, as to them it seemed,
and I can imagine with what proud look each Ithacan met the in-
quiry— " The Illumination ? " Yes, of the mind. " The Fire ?"
Yes, that shall burn up Ignorance. It is kindled to-night.

But not alone in voice of bell, and cannon, and exultation is
his reward. Your presence thus crowding this hall tells him that
his gift is appreciated by a people who will remember the giver.
Beyond all this, I have heard the ministers of religion this night
invoking on him the blessing which endures when knowledge itself
" shall vanish away." It is so gratifying to me to-night to see
that which is so seldom seen, a work accomplished. If the cur-
tain should fall to-night, it falls on a good, no longer a promised
or an expected good, but one realized. It is something in a life
such as ours is when the light of to-day but feebly interprets the
darkness of the morrow ; it is something to know that a good is
done. Henceforth, when the State of New York shall call over its
roll of men who have done the State service by increasing the
happiness of the people, it must speak the name of Ezra Cornell !
Sometimes our good deeds are resolved upon ; often they do not

1 68 EZRA CORNELL.

get beyond an easy imagination, where the beautiful only is seen,
and the stern, real gate of trial is avoided. Sometimes a good
deed is only planned out. How often it is like our human nature
in its infancy only, and never reaches the strength of manhood.
How full the satisfaction, then, when a purpose of good has passed
through all alternations of hope and fear, and is fully, gladly, joy-
ously before us, at our side, an accomplished reality, a bestowed
blessing.

Proceeding at some length to dilate upon the
advantages to follow the establishment of such an
institution, Mr. Bogart closed his eloquent remarks
as follows :

Mr. President, Mr. Cornell has achieved his high purpose.
Henceforth this Library is for the public use. Ithaca from this
hour rises in value. Her lands and tenements and hereditaments
count greater value. I think I predict only what calm and cool fact
shall confirm, that they who seek for a genial home will be guided
hither by the light of this Library, and you will find following all
that belongs to Order, and Refinement, and Wisdom.

The exercises of the evening were finished with
great enthusiasm by the adoption of a resolution
that each member of the vast audience present
should, in the coming holiday week, contribute
one or more books to the Library as a Christ-
mas gift. This action resulted in the presentation
of a large number of valuable works, and in that
manner made many persons feel a more direct
individual interest in the Library than they would
otherwise have experienced.

CONTINUED GROWTH. 169

This noble benefaction was accepted by the
citizens of Tompkins County with a gratifying
appreciation of the generous impulse which
prompted the founder in designing and presenting
it for their use. Unfortunately, however, for the
rapid increase of the facilities of the Cornell Li-
brary, it was speedily eclipsed by the act of its
founder in the endowment and organization of
the Cornell University, and has ever since been
over-shadowed by the brilliant success of the
greater institution. But for the establishment of
the University in such immediate proximity, the
Library would, no doubt, have achieved far
greater development than it has thus far expe-
rienced. Its growth, however, if slow, has been
substantial in character, and it has already attained
a collection of about fifteen thousand volumes, in-
cluding many extremely valuable works of refer-
ence. Its management has been prudent in all
things, and its financial condition has been ma-
terially strengthened in each year of its existence.

The Library has been extensively patronized
by citizens, as well as by the students of the Uni-
versity, who have shown a grateful appreciation
of the facilities thus furnished them. Strangers
visiting Ithaca inspect the Library with great in-
terest, and are profuse in their expressions of ad-
miration for the literary advantages with which

1 70 EZRA CO KNELL,

the residents of the locality have been so gener-
ously provided. The superb educational facilities
established by the munificence of Mr. Cornell, at
Ithaca, have given the town an enviable repute
throughout the country, and have attracted there
many desirable residents, and a constant proces-
sion of visitors. From the stimulus thus given the
village has more than doubled in population, and
grown to be a large and prosperous town, now
rapidly developing as a manufacturing centre of
no insignificant importance.

The Cornell Library was projected and estab-
lished by Mr. Cornell as an evidence of his grati-
tude to the kind Providence which had vouchsafed
to him the great measure of success that had at-
tended his onerous labors in the telegraph enter-
prise. At the time when he undertook this ben-
eficent work, he estimated himself to be worth
about half a million dollars, but the appreciation
of his telegraph interests followed so rapidly that
before he had completed the Library building, he
found himself in the enjoyment of an annual in-
come of more than one hundred thousand dollars,
and the value of his estate more than doubled.

Prosperity came to him in such abundance, and
he had so greatly enjoyed the pleasure of this gen-
erous action, that his ambition was aroused to
build a still greater monument, in recognition of

GRATITUDE. 17 1

the Divine favor which had fallen upon him. It
was just at this time that his attention was called
to the failure of the Agricultural College, from
lack of adequate endowment for its support and
development. Heartily sympathizing with the
project of establishing an educational institution
which should afford facilities for instruction in sci-
ences relating to agriculture and the mechanical
arts, he determined to devote a portion of his
then ample fortune to the accomplishment of this
worthy purpose. It was the conjunction of these
circumstances which culminated in the endow-
ment and organization of the Cornell University.

CHAPTER XIV.

ADDRESS OF DEDICATION.— CORNELL LIBRARY.

Appreciative Co-operation. — Address of Dedication by Hon. Fran-
cis Miles Finch. — An Eloquent and Impressive Discourse. —
Educational Influence of Libraries. — Duty of Grateful Ap-
preciation.— Useful Lessons. — Neglected Opportunities. — Un-
healthy Excitement.

FOREMOST among the citizens of Ithaca in evinc-
ing cordial and loyal appreciation of the good
work so generously tendered, was one who from
the beginning was zealous in endeavor to aid in
promoting it ; whose rich culture and valuable but
unobtrusive services were freely rendered to the
founder of the Library in carrying out his admir-
able purpose. This was the HON. FRANCIS MILES
FINCH, now a distinguished Judge of the Court
of Appeals of the State of New York, whose em-
inent abilities, great learning, and high character
contribute much to elevate and strengthen that
august tribunal. For many years he gave cheer-
ful and valuable assistance to the organization
and management both of the Cornell Library,
and University. With manifest propriety, this

DEDICATION. 1/3

estimable co-laborer in all of the munificent pro-
jects of Mr. Cornell, had been designated to
pronounce the address of dedication on the oc-
casion of the inaugural ceremonies of the Cornell
Library. This extremely interesting production
is here inserted, despite its considerable length,
not only as an appropriate element of this record,
but also as a grateful tribute to the faithful, ap-
preciative, and confidential friend of the founder.

DEDICATION ADDRESS.
BY HON. FRANCIS M. FINCH.

Ladies and Gentlemen : When the dream of a lifetime has
been suddenly realized, it is difficult to believe that it is not a
dream. Especially when this is effected by some unusual agency,
whose creative force and energy operated with a power and cer-
tainty akin almost to enchantment, it is hard to grasp and master
the wide range of results.

We who are assembled here in this completed and perfected
edifice, containing within itself the elements of its own support
and the power of independent action, free from the domination of
the partisan, either in politics or in religion, with the rich columns
and still alcoves, and waiting shelves of a library, where already
rest the germs of a broad and liberal culture, and many rare
triumphs of art and of literature, whose doors are open, whose priv-
ileges are promised, whose encouraging care belongs to all alike —
to the child of want and weary poverty as well as him whose head
is sheltered from the chill of every wind ; we, who are gathered
here, amid nil these results of one clear brain, one generous heart,
one lavish hand, can hardly estimate the value and grandeur of
the gift. The receding waves of influence spread their widening
circles to such distant shores that none can measure the endless

1/4 EZRA CORNELL.

arc or tell the radius of the departing curve. A good deed clone
to-day repeats itself in the tireless repetitions of the years. A life
of good deeds grows more beautiful as it ncars its close, as the
autumn woods gather a mellow splendor that does not belong to
the brilliance of their June ; and far along the summers that gar-
land, and the winters that whiten, this changing world, that life,
though ended, will still repeat its work, and nearer with the chime
of every advancing hour, will approach the completion of its
aims.

One such deed of broad beneficence begins its mission to-day.
For the gift we receive we owe a debt of gratitude not to be paid
by words. The world is full of hollow thanks ; the forms of po-
liteness flash like crystals, and are as cold ; only as the warmth of
grateful words is fed by the fire of grateful deeds are they worthy
the giver or the gift. I do not, therefore, indulge in the flattering
phrases of eulogy. The coinage is too cheap and easy. The pale
dull notes that fluttered in the streets of burning Richmond were
not more plenty nor more worthless. There is a way, however,
to lift the load of obligation this day imposed, to pour back upon
the heart that has made us rich the wealth of cheerful gratitude,
to make the memory of our gift a daily happiness to the giver,
and that way is to thoroughly appreciate what is bestowed. Neg-
lect, misuse, destroy it, and the good becomes bad, the sweet
grows bitter, the pleasure is a pain. Cherish and protect it, enjoy
its beauty, thrive upon its benefits, keep it alive and busy with
daily and earnest use, and the blessing it proves to us will add an
hourly joy, a happiness sincere and unalloyed, to the life that has
crowned its years of honest labor, of persistent faith and un-
daunted courage with this costly and generous gift.

The cavalier of days gone past, the hero of old romance, odd
mixture of robber and gentleman, who, in the quaint pages of
Froissart or Monstrelet, gives choice flowers to her whose colors
adorn his helmet, is poorly repaid by the ready smile and phrase
of courteous compliment, if, in an hour, he finds the faded petals
crushed and thrown away, but is rewarded beyond desert if they
bloom in the dark locks, or blossom in the castle window, watched

APPRECIA TION. 1 7 5

and watered with patient care. The generous friend who gives
some work of art, some choicely selected triumph of the chisel,
or the brush, some gem of Rome or Florence, has but slender
thanks, if, after courtesy is done, and novelty is gone, the picture
glooms in cobwebs, or in the dark, and the marble bust is broken
or defaced ; but is richly paid if, over the student's desk, or in the
firelight of a cheerful home, his gifts are kept and prized. We
can bear that toys and playthings should be first forgotten and
then destroyed. The child's new happiness is so fresh and ear-
nest that we feel at once repaid, and, knowing well the fitful-
ness of the little heart, the curious turns of the little mind, the
sure destructiveness of the little hand, we expect, when the novelty
has worn away, to see the doll bleeding sawdust from gaping
wounds, the tin engine ruined in collision, the playhouse splin-
tered by an earthquake.

But it is not a toy or a plaything with which we have to do. It
is a broad and substantial good. And we are not children to be
judged by the child's years and weakness. If, therefore, this great
gift of ours, when every room has grown familiar, and every
quaint old volume has lost its charms, and the rare birds of the
hunter artist, and the bold illustrations of Dante's verse, and per-
fect etching of all art and science have ceased to be new and
strange, if then we neglect them all, and shadows only occupy the
quiet alcoves, and the neglected books gather dust upon their
shelves, and the pleasant reading-rooms are dim and vacant, and
the grand purpose of the gift fails of its aim, no flattering words of
ours, however softly phrased or deftly framed, will soothe the pain-
ful convictions that the costly effort is but a waste and a failure.

Just here, and in the light of these reflections, we get clear
views of our duty and our grave responsibility. The gratitude we
owe for the princely gift whose keys and title-deeds have just been
given us, demands that we appreciate the boon. Our own per-
sonal interests, the good that but awaits our will to take it, the
long and endless train of benefits that are ours, if we will but have
them — these, too, demand that we appreciate the gift. If you
ask me how, you furnish me a theme hard to compress within the

176 EZRA CORNELL.

moments granted me, and yet the one most needing thought, and
of gravest consequence to us all. Let us, at least, frame some
brief and general answer.

One cannot appreciate what he does not thoroughly under-
stand. A man may see the expansive energy of steam, and even
understand the engine mechanism — here opens, here shuts a valve,
and the piston-rod moves, and the wheels revolve ; but until he
sees the giant power at work, beholds it linking with an iron chain
the commerce of hemispheres, cutting the ocean into roads and
grand avenues of trade, weaving the faintest fibre into glossy silk
and spotless lawn, grinding the grain of continents, and proving
itself the great world artisan, he utterly fails to appreciate the
magnitude and grandeur of the tireless force. We must thoroughly
comprehend the gift we have received, or we shall fail to appre-
ciate its value. We have a costly edifice, a place for books, and
rooms in which to read them. So much is on the surface. Set
this simple machinery at work, and what is it then ? An educat-
ing force, an aid and a stimulant to intelligence, the refining ele-
ment of social life, the means and the guide of advancing civi-
lization, the safeguard of freedom, the sure foundation of the
Republic.

But just emerged from a sad and terrible war, let us not be
blinded by the splendors of victory to the truth that underlies
that victory. Brave as were our citizen soldiers, bravery alone
would never have won success. Bravery, led by intelligence, sus-
tained by intelligence, armed and supplied and stimulated by in-
telligence, that planted the stars upon every fortress, that turned
the batteries of fate, that made the Republic iron-clad against its
enemies. And if, in the future, we are to reap the promise of our
youth, if the last great storm has been encountered, and the last
deadly peril escaped, and the nation is to march steadily in the
van of civilization, it will be because intelligence keeps pace with
prosperity, because just such agencies as that we organize to-day
crown the hillsides and crowd the valleys of the land. Commerce
will not save us, wealth will not save us, armies will not save us.
Only as every door is opened to that knowledge which is power,

A WANT SUPPLIED. 1/7

as every mind is flooded with the sunlight of intelligence, as every
avenue of civilization is swept of the barriers which ignorance
builds, and crime arms and mans, can we hope to round the his-
tory of the world with that world's crowning triumph. A key to
one such door, a ray of that golden sunlight, a battery to breach
these barriers — that is the kind and the character of the gift we
have received to-night. Thus grasping the expansive and pervad-
ing force with which we work, we shall better appreciate the wis-
dom which has framed it to our hands.

Men little appreciate what they do not need, but always, and
greatly, that which supplies a want and fills an evident void. The
folly of giving what is not needed, of heaping coals on the mine of
original supply, has crystallized into the sarcasm of a proverb ;
and unless we know and feel that this generous gift of ours is a
needed one, that the harvest is ripe for the sickle, but the reapers
are indeed few, we shall not half appreciate the importance of our
trust. Deeming this village home of ours no worse, if not better
than the average of her sisters in the land, there are yet some
truths to be plainly said, some wounds to be probed, not poulticed.
And I declare to you as the result of careful observation, of
thought not hasty, but deliberate through the years, that no one
thing has been more needed in our intellectual social and business
life than the very institution now organized. It is needed by us
as individuals. We have suffered — none rightly appreciate to what
painful extent — for the want of means of fair and accurate inves-
tigation. We have been guided by old standards. We have
travelled in the deep ruts cut by the venerable wheels of habit,
and only wondered at the daring horsemen scaling fences and
fields far in our advance. Our very business energies have thus
been dwarfed. The vision habitually limited in time grows hope-
lessly narrow. The mechanic builds and forges, molds and
completes, as his father or his master did, because, without chart
or pilot, he dares not brave the storms of bold experiment. The
laborer and his children settle down into the treadmill round of daily
toil, sad-eyed, and weary, and unambitious, without temptation,
because without the means of living a broader or more intelligent

178 EZRA CORNELL.

life. The men of the professions save and lose, succeed and fail,
preach and pray, successful within the range of some narrow hori-
zon, but themselves conscious of the need of some broader cul-
ture, and the means of wider study.

But, if needed by individuals, this institution, which we dedi-
cate to-day, is more needed by the community. Is our American
intelligence diffused as it should be among all, or largely limited
within narrow ranges ? I do not like to speak as strongly as I
think, but some facts are palpable and tangible. We can put a
tambourine upon one corner of the public platform, clattering
bones upon the other, and blackened faces all along the curve,
and fill audience seats almost to suffocation. Or, we can place
there unrivalled eloquence, thought clear as the spring, yet deep
and grand as the ocean, learning boundless though unassuming,
logic forged red-hot upon the anvil of intellect, brilliant beauty
inwove with compacted reason, and be chilled with the solitude
that fringes the few who are assembled, and bear our losses with
the hopeless calm that comes of long experience.

What are the masses reading ? I think it would shock you to
know accurately and in detail. Newspapers that pander to the
worst passions of human nature ; weeklies that systematically cor-
rupt the public taste ; hovels that are stimulating and fiery ;
poems rank and luxuriant with vicious fascination ; magazines
literally framed of silliness and folly — these, and worse than these,
too largely engross the public mind, and too surely deprave the
public taste. Love of excitement — the American fault — which
makes our pulses throb savagely and our hearts beat swift and
hard ; which heats the machinery of our activity, and burns out
our lives at middle age — this hot, hurried, eager temperament
craves and is fed by an ephemeral literature both stimulating
and dangerous ; while the books of solid merit, the volumes
rich in ennobling thought, the pages fruitful of eternal truth,
lie silent upon the shelves, or shed their light only within narrow
bounds.

What are our young men doing ? Dare we write the history
of the street ? Idle evenings, vacant thoughts, restless longings,

FOR GENERAL USE. 1/9

grow, by inevitable law, into folly or into vice, and that culmi-
nates into crime. And those who safely run these terrible risks —
and the wrecks are more than the saved — gradually dwarfed by
daily drudgery, brain starved by lack of mental food, sad and de-
spairing for want of wise encouragement and intelligent aid, plead
with their sad eyes and beg with their mute lips for the very assist-
ance it is now possible for us to give. Do you know their num-
ber ? More than you think or dream. The need is great, the
want is terrible ; and, if we feel it as we should, realize it as we
may, we shall better appreciate the gift that has been bestowed,
and the grave responsibility that rests upon us all, of so wielding
its advantages and guiding its energies that the evil we see may
at least be lessened, if not destroyed.

A thing made for use is never properly appreciated unless
used. If the deft machine, marvel of modern ingenuity, whose
needle clicks through tiresome hem and weary seam with happy
speed, stands idle and unused, the giver is pained, for the good
intended has failed of its purpose. If the clattering teeth made to
level the golden grain and reap with bite of steel the autumn
harvest, lie silent in the field, weather-stained and gnawed with
rust, and perishing with neglect, the giver grieves, for the gift is
a waste and a pain. Our gift, therefore, we must steadily use,
both for the sake of him who gave and of those who receive. Not
a few, but all. The artisan must come to improve his work and
lighten his toil ; the man of business, to better mold and more
surely shape his plans ; he of the professions, to elevate and adorn
his art ; she who graces our homes and firesides, to add the charm
of high culture and intelligence to the beauty of womanhood ; and
all, that knowledge may be diffused, industry stimulated, greater
attainments won, and the doors of honorable ambition thrown
wide to each who chooses to enter for the struggle. That it be
used by all, that is the important thing. This is not the library
of an Astor, fit home for .the scholar and man of letters, rich in
its grand collections, but not to be profaned by common feet, and
close and surly to the nameless crowd ; not a British Museum,
out of whose half million of volumes but twenty thousand are

180 EZRA CORNELL.

free to all comers, and useful access to the rest is clogged and
hindered by exclusive rules and tedious forms ; not an Imperial
Library, with more than its million of books, whose very vast-
ness bewilders and daunts the poor and lowly ; nothing too great,
nothing too grand for daily and common use, to which it invites
and urges all.

It belongs to all. Let that be remembered. Not to a chosen
few to monopolize its benefits ; not to a narrow circle to frown on
all the rest ; but to all, to every one as equal with every other.
The poorest boy, barefooted in the street, if he but come to read
and learn, may climb yon solid staircase with the confidence of
title, with the step of a master, joint owner with us all ; he has
a right to demand, and shall surely receive, from those of us who
hold this gift in trust, a kindly reception, all needed aid and assist-
ance, not as a favor, but as a right, for which he holds our found-
er's title-deed.

It is yours, this welcome gift. Treat it, therefore, as your
own, use it as your own. I hope to see its alcoves filled with quiet
students, its reading-rooms each evening occupied with earnest
youth, its volumes circulating in every home, its peaceful influence
everywhere. Let that result be attained, and we shall indeed
have thanked the giver ; the fact alone, better than parchment-
written flatteries, or a city's freedom in a box of gold, will crown
his gift with gratitude.

Men never appreciate justly what they hate, and seldom what
they do not truthfully love. This institution, therefore, must have
no enemies ; if any, those alone whom vice and crime have made
the brutal foes of all intelligence. I know that in every commu-
nity there are sour and envious natures, of bilious tone and acid
tongue, whose words are sharp and acrid, whose opinions are rank
and rasping, whose theory of climbing high is hurling others low,
who grow tired of hearing Aristides called " the Just," and whose
friendship it may be a hopeless task to win. But these natures,
preyed upon by canker and gangrene, are simply diseased, to be
pitied and passed by. From all the rest, their love, their care,
their watchful regard is due to this enterprise, which is their own.

INDEPENDENT. l8l

It will make mistakes, perhaps ; let the error be shown only to be
forgiven. It may, sometimes, give offence ; not purposely, you
may be sure ; if so, let pardon at once wipe out the pain. Diffi-
culties will often obstruct its management : tastes will differ, judg-
ments will collide, dangers perplex ; but all these troubles will be
light as foam if only the gift be strongly anchored in the love
and trust of those to whom it is given. To justify that confidence
it has, we think, been wisely planned. Creeds differ. It will re-
spect all, but ally itself with none. If theologians grow belliger-
ent, and preach the gospel from the back of a war-horse clothed
in thunder, and with fierce flashings of battle-axe and cleaver, the
fight shall not come here to divide and distract our quiet work.
Men disagree in politics. It is their right. We shall treat them
fairly and alike, but side with none. With however much of
storm or fury the battle may rage, peace alone shall be the con-
queror here. Society is cut into classes ; invisible lines divide ;
arbitrary divisions sever. We must recognize none of them. For
us there can be but one class, and that the entire community. In
all these respects this institution will be neutral ground, and bellig-
erents are warned to leave their arms at the gates. Not that opin-
ion shall be muzzled, or free thought manacled, or reason chained ;
but that all shall have equal favor, equal rights ; not less, not
one grain more.

So much is due to those for whose benefit this gift is made.
And may not we, who hold this trust, expect from them that sym-
pathy with and regard for the interests in our charge which will
insure their successful working ? Then no vandal hand will mar
and deface the purity of these walls ; no envious word or spiteful
sneer will sow the seeds of discord ; no cold neglect will chill and
freeze ; no hostile blow be aimed ; but many a rare volume, placed
where all may read, will prove its owner's interest in our work ; and
in the end, by gradual growth and fostering care, will come a
public good, a public blessing, honorable alike to the hand that
framed and the hearts that cherished it.

But one word more. The example of which this gift to-day is
the first fruit ; of which a proof more rich and costly is fast rising,

1 82 EZRA CORNELL.

with massive walls and graceful arches, upon the heights that over-
look our homes — that example I commend to each in his own de-
gree. It shames the miser's clutch upon that, which hoarded, is
but cankering dross ; it shames the selfish instinct that bars out
the world from all it has and hopes ; it shames the vicious reason-
ing that all can starve and yet each one thrive ; it brings to light
the rusted links of the forgotten chain that binds our interests in
one ; it bids us bear our part in generous deeds and manly efforts
for the good of all. Intelligent public spirit, that is what we
need, and of which we shall never have too much. Let us catch
the spirit of the age. Washed from the blood and dust of war,
conscious now of a strength we knew not of, roused by the pres-
sure of magnificent debt to a new prosperity, the Nation moves
with speed redoubled — breathless. The bars of iron stretch
toward the Pacific, the lightning traverses the ocean's bed ; great
stormy lakes are tamed to fill the goblets of a city; a buried
wealth is reached to light the hamlets of the world ; mountains of
surly rock are tunnelled out to make a road for steam ; invention
knows no sleep, and genius dares not rest.

Something of this spirit should be ours. So many lights are
being set upon our hills, so wondering a gaze is turning hither, so
grand and grave is becoming our position, that more of thought,
more of labor, more of energy will become us all. If we cannot
beat the drums of the advance, at least let us not sleep in the am-
bulance at the rear ; if we cannot reach the mountain top, at least
let us not slumber in the valley. Above all let those who lead in
every good and noble work receive our sympathy and gratitude.
Let them see and feel that every possible aid of ours is at their
service ; and, as the first important step of such grateful action,
let us take this generous gift which has been made to-night, with
thankful and appreciating hearts ; let us enfold it in our love and
care ; let it be our pride as citizens, our blessing as individuals ;
let us firmly resolve its success ; forever make impossible the burn-
ing shame and bitter disgrace of accepting a costly gift only to
bury it in neglect and failure.

CONCLUSION. 183

It is now a noble and generous boon ; the passing years will
make it sacred. The day will come which must come once to all —
and, Oh, may it be far and dim in the distant years — when the un-
wearied giver shall give no more on earth, and this gift will be-
come a monument. Let us love it now, that we may better give it
reverence then, and from its silent influence learn anew the lesson
that

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.

CHAPTER XV.

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY.— CHARTER AND ORGAN-
IZATION.

Demand for Scientific Education. — The Agricultural College. — Its
Failure. — Congressional Appropriation of Public Lands for
Agricultural and Mechanical Education. — Acceptance by the
State. — Appropriation to People's College. — Inadequate Vital-
ity and Withdrawal of Appropriation. — Mr. Cornell's Offer of
$500,000.— Animated Contest. — Charter of Cornell Univer-
sity.— Offensive Proviso. — Location of the University. — Ad-
ditional Contributions by the Founder. — Erection of College
Edifices. — President White. — University Faculty and Equip-
ment.— Liberal Attendance of Students.

THE importance and desirability of providing spe-
cial facilities for advanced education in the sciences
relating to agriculture, were for many years sub-
jects of earnest discussion in agricultural jour-
nals of the country, and more especially in those
of this State. The cause was warmly espoused
by the New York State Agricultural Society, and
found many earnest advocates among the more
intelligent farmers of the State, as well as among
the active friends of education. The agitation of
the subject finally resulted in the passage by the

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 185

Legislature, in 1853, of an act incorporating the
" New York State Agricultural College."

The act provided that the State should loan the
institution forty thousand dollars for a period of
twenty-one years, without interest, on condition
that an equal amount should be raised by private
contributions. The trustees, named in the bill,
fixed the location of the institution in the town of
Ovid, Seneca County, and selected for its site a
magnificent estate of six hundred and eighty acres
of fertile land, overlooking the Seneca Lake. It
was not, however, until the year 1858 that the
necessary subscriptions had been secured to ren-
der the State loan available, when the trustees be-
gan the erection of a college edifice on the site
designated. The funds at the disposal of the
trustees were exhausted before the building was
completed, and the liberality of the friends of the
enterprise was strained to the utmost to provide
for finishing the building, and fitting it for active
operations.

The College was finally opened for the recep-
tion of students in the autumn of 1860, and in-
struction was begun with a class of between forty
and fifty students, and a faculty consisting of the
president and four professors. Unfortunately,
however, no adequate endowment had been pro-
vided for the support of the College ; nothing,

1 86 EZRA CORNELL,

indeed, had been furnished beyond the land and
building, a very limited equipment of furniture,
and a quite insignificant apparatus. The in-
stitution had no income for its support beyond
that derived from tuition fees, which were wholly
inadequate for the payment of current expenses.

Upon the outbreak of the great rebellion, in
April, 1 86 1, the President of the College, who
was a graduate of the West Point Military Acad-
emy, was called to Albany by the Governor to
aid in the military preparations of the State, re-
turning occasionally to the College as his duties
permitted, during the remainder of the school
year. Under all of the discouraging circum-
stances attending the early experience of the Col-
lege, it was not strange that before the close of
the first year a considerable number of the stu-
dents had abandoned the pursuit of agricultural
science, and responded to the call of President
Lincoln for volunteers to suppress the rebellion.

As it became apparent that the war was to
be of considerable duration, the trustees of the
Agricultural College decided not to open it for in-
struction in the fall of 1861, but to await more
fortuitous circumstances. This closing of the Col-
lege, however, proved to be permanent, in default
of any provision for its support, and the property
was afterward taken by the State in satisfaction

ACTION OF CONGRESS. 187

of its claim, and devoted to the purposes of the
Willard Asylum for the chronic insane.

At the most critical period of the great struggle
for national existence, responding to a general
sentiment in favor of some practical provision for
agricultural education, the Congress of the United
States illustrated the unwavering faith of the loyal
people in the complete restoration of national
unity by the enactment, in July, 1862, of Chapter
130, General Statutes, entitled, "An act donating
public lands to the several States and Territories
which may provide colleges for the benefit of ag-
riculture and the mechanic arts."

This act conceived in far-reaching wisdom,
granted to each State a quantity of public land
equal to thirty thousand acres for each senator
and representative in Congress under the census
of 1860, and provided for the sale of the lands and
investment of the proceeds in permanent funds,
the income of which should by each State be ap-
propriated " to the endowment, support, and main-
tenance of at least one college, where the leading
object shall be, without excluding other scientific
and classical studies, and including military tactics,
to teach such branches of learning as are related to
agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner
as the Legislatures of the States may respectively
prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and

1 88 EZRA CORNELL.

practical education of the industrial classes in the
several pursuits and professions of life."

Under the provisions of this act the State of
New York became entitled to receive 990,000
acres of public lands, and by the enactment of
Chapter 460, of the laws of 1863, the State ac-
cepted the trust, and made preliminary provision
for the receipt and custody of the scrip, and au-
thorized the Comptroller to sell the land and in-
vest the proceeds in conformity with the law of
Congress. A subsequent act, Chapter 511, laws
of 1863, appropriated the income of the Land
Grant Fund to an undeveloped institution, known
as the " People's College," at Havana, Schuyler
County, thus completely ignoring the State Agri-
cultural College, which, by all fair means, should
have been selected by the Legislature as the re-
cipient of this federal bounty. Although the pass-
age of this measure was earnestly opposed by
the friends of the Agricultural College, it was
promoted by some invisible power, and became a
law.

That the partisans of the People's College
proved to be more effective as promoters of leg-
islation than in building up a real college, was
demonstrated by the report of the Regents of the
State University under an investigation made,
pursuant to the direction of the State Senate, in

MUNIFICENT OFFER. 189

the month of February, 1865. This report ex-
posed the ridiculous pretence which had been
made in reference to the People's College, and
clearly demonstrated that no adequate steps had
been taken to create such an institution as the
statutes contemplated. The earnestly devoted
friends of agricultural education were fully aroused
by this exposure, and urgently demanded legisla-
tion which should make proper amends for the
injustice done to their cause by the wrongful ap-
propriation of the Land Grant Fund to the so-
called People's College.

At this juncture of affairs, Mr. Cornell offered
the trustees of the Agricultural College a personal
endowment of $300,000, on condition that the in-
stitution should be removed from Ovid and located
at Ithaca, and provided further that the Legislature
should appropriate to it one-half of the income of
the Land Grant Fund. Finding, among the more
intelligent champions of higher education, a very
decided expression against dividing and fritter-
ing away the federal income, Mr. Cornell sub-
sequently increased his offer of endowment to
$500,000, if the entire Land Grant income were
permanently appropriated to the institution.

This proposition aroused the enthusiasm of
the friends of agricultural education to a high
pitch, and stimulated their ambition to still higher

19° EZRA CORNELL.

aims than they had ever before entertained. Mr.
Cornell's proposition was very cordially accepted,
and, after careful consultation, it was decided to
abandon the Agricultural College entirely, and
take steps to secure the necessary legislation
for the organization of a general university, which
should also embrace the special features required
by the congressional act. In pursuance of this
policy a carefully prepared bill was presented to
the Legislature for the incorporation of the " Cor-
nell University," and embracing the conditions
named.

The measure was very bitterly opposed by
the adherents of the People's College, and zeal-
ously advocated by the friends of the Agricul-
tural College and other leading friends of higher
education. The passage of the bill was earnestly
contested at every step of progress, from its in-
troduction to its final enactment. The contro-
versy attracted general attention throughout the
State, and the antagonists of the measure were
reinforced by the friends of several of the minor
colleges, who loudly clamored for a division of the
fund among all of the existing colleges. This pol-
icy was, however, successfully combated, on the
ground that it would be an idle dispersion of the
fund, which would practically defeat the objects
of its creation.

OBNOXIOUS PROVISO. IQI

The contest over the University bill was so
evenly balanced that its friends found themselves
obliged, as a preliminary to final success, to ac-
cept an amendment providing that " within six
months from the passage of this act, said Ezra Cor-
nell, of Ithaca, shall pay over to the trustees of
Genesee College, located at Lima, in this State,
the sum of twenty-Jive thousand dollars for the
purpose of establishing in said Genesee College a
professorship of agricultural chemistry!1 Thus,
as a condition of being permitted to contribute
the sum of $500,000 to endow the Cornell Uni-
versity, a public institution for the benefit of the
people of the entire State, Mr. Cornell was re-
quired, by legislative enactment, to first give $25,-
ooo to another institution. Many friends were
so indignant at this provision, that they strongly
urged him to reject it ; but he overlooked the
indignity, and duly paid the money to Genesee
College.

This monstrous abuse of philanthropic gener-
osity was, however, by the Legislature, in 1867,
so far corrected as was possible, by appropriating,
out of the general fund of the State, $25,000 to the
Cornell University for its sole and exclusive use,
" being the amount which Ezra Cornell has paid to
the Genesee College, pursuant to the require-
ments of Chapter 585, of the laws of 1865." The

192 EZRA CORNELL.

Cornell University charter also contained a pro-
viso, giving the trustees of the People's College
three months' time within which to deposit such
sum of money as the Regents of the State Uni-
versity might designate as sufficient to enable
said trustees fully to comply with the requirements
of the law appropriating to that institution the
income of the Land Grant Fund. This essential
was not met by the authorities of the People's
College, which practically repealed the appropria-
tion of the federal bounty for its benefit.

Upon the fulfilment, therefore, of the conditions
of the act of its incorporation, the Cornell Univer-
sity became entitled to receive the income of the
Land Grant Fund for its exclusive maintenance.
The sale by many States of their land scrip had,
however, depreciated its value from more than one
dollar an acre in 1862 to about fifty cents an acre in
1865, with a downward tendency. At these fig-
ures even the princely domain granted to the
State of New York would produce but an insig-
nificant sum to meet the necessities of a great
educational establishment, and one of the first
questions which engaged the attention of Mr.
Cornell was the possibility of realizing a more
adequate price for the land grant. This branch
of the general subject is worthy of more elabor-
ate treatment than it can properly receive in this

UNIVERSITY SITE. 193

connection, and will therefore be reserved for sub-
sequent observation.

The charter of the Cornell University fixed its
location "in the town of Ithaca," thus leaving to
the trustees only the discretion of selecting a site
within that town. This question was speedily
solved by Mr. Cornell's tender of two hundred
acres of his homestead farm as a free contribu-
tion added to his original endowment. This mag-
nificent site was unanimously regarded as the
most appropriate location in the town, and was
therefore gratefully accepted by the board.

Situated on the brow of East hill, within a mile
of the village, and about four hundred feet above
the valley level, a landscape of marvellous beauty
is spread out before the observer. In one direc-
tion the beautiful Cayuga Lake is visible for
thirty-five miles, while to the southwest the eye
wanders over the valley and hills for a distance
of nearly twenty miles, making altogether a line
of vision more than fifty miles in extent. One
who has chanced to gaze upon this grand view,
especially on a bright and cloudless day, will long
remember it as a privilege to be highly regarded.

At the outset of their administration the trus-
tees of the Cornell University determined upon
the preservation of Mr. Cornell's endowment as
a capital for revenue, and to proceed with the
13

194 EZRA CORNELL.

erection of buildings only so fast as their surplus
income and other contributions might provide
means for the purpose. The erection of the first
building, now known as " Morrill Hall," was be-
gun in the spring of 1866, and was followed by
a large frame building designed for the temporary
uses of the departments of chemistry and kindred
purposes.

The organization of the University faculty re-
ceived its first formal impulse in 1866, by the ap-
pointment by the board of trustees of the HON.
ANDREW DICKSON WHITE as president of the Uni-
versity. President White was a distinguished
graduate of Yale who had also pursued a post-
graduate course at the University of Berlin. He
was for some years professor of history in the
University of Michigan, and was a member of the
New York State Senate, serving four years as a
colleague with Mr. Cornell, where they had be-
come warmly attached as personal friends. Sena-
tor White was the author of the bill incorporat-
ing the Cornell University, and was ardent in his
support of that measure. The defeat of the pro-
position to divide and disperse the Land Grant
income was due more to his arguments and influ-
ence than to any other cause.

Senator White was, with complete unanimity,
chosen one of the trustees of the University at

PRESIDENT WHITE. 1 95

the first meeting of the incorporators, and was
unremitting in his efforts to promote the interests
of the institution. He was selected as president
of the University by the trustees upon the ear-
nest recommendation of the founder, who, by long
observation of his personal characteristics, had
become convinced of his peculiar fitness for the
extremely onerous duties which would devolve
upon the executive head of the great institution,
which, it was fondly hoped, might grow from the
undertaking then just initiated. After a lapse of
nearly twenty years the declaration is here made
with entire deliberation, that no wiser selection
could have been made for this important position.
President White entered upon the discharge of
his duties with an earnest purpose to plant the
foundations of the infant University broad and
deep, to insure its ultimate development into a
grand and useful institution, which should be
worthy of the imperial Commonwealth which had
given it corporate life, and of the noble-hearted
FOUNDER whose generous endowment had first
given it vitality, and whose unselfish labors con-
tributed so much to its subsequent growth. He
declined farther service in the Senate, and visited
most of the great colleges in America and Europe
for observation as to the best methods of advanced
education, and embraced every opportunity to

I9<5 EZRA CORNELL.

gather materials for the library and equipment of
the University. President White was entrusted
\vith the unrestricted choice of his associates in
the faculty, the appointments having been formally
made by the trustees wholly upon his recom-
mendation. He selected for the regular force of
resident professorships, almost exclusively, young
men of high attainments and of especial adapta-
tion to the particular duties for which they were
respectively designed.

It was President White's theory that he could
secure better results for the permanent useful-
ness of the institution, by entrusting the hard
work of the administration to young men who,
with their reputations yet to make, would have
more ambition to distinguish themselves, than
perhaps would ensue from the labors of others
who, having achieved a name, might be more dis-
posed to rest contented with less exertion. He
supplemented these selections by securing as non-
resident professors, several gentlemen of wide re-
pute who were engaged to spend a few weeks at
the University each year, in delivering before the
advanced classes elaborate and carefully prepared
lectures in their respective spheres of observation
and study. The President's policy has proved ad-
mirable in practice, and has been followed in many
of the older institutions, with like good results.

EQUIPMENT. 197

At the formal opening of the University the
faculty embraced the following members : Six
non-resident Professors, nineteen resident Profes-
sors, four Assistant Professors, and five Instruct-
ors. This general University faculty was divided
into nine special faculties, each constituting a col-
lege or department, designated as follows : i, Col-
lege of Agriculture ; 2, College of Chemistry and
Physics ; 3, College of History and Political Sci-
ence ; 4, College of Languages ; 5, College of
Literature and Philosophy ; 6, College of Math-
ematics and Engineering; 7, College of Mechanic
Arts ; 8, College of Military Science ; 9, College
of Natural Science.

The University Library at that time comprised
about twenty-five thousand volumes, which had
been selected under the direct supervision of the
President. The Museums embraced very com-
plete collections in Geology and Mineralogy ;
Botany and Agriculture ; Zoology and Physiol-
ogy; Technology and Civil Engineering; Chem-
istry and Physics ; and the Fine Arts. There
were enrolled and entered in the different depart-
ments of study nearly four hundred students, com-
ing from fifty different counties of the State of
New York, and twenty-seven States of the Union,
besides several foreign countries.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY. — INAUGURAL CERE-
MONIES.

Opening of the University. — Inaugural Exercises. — Notable Oc-
casion.— Founder's Address. — President White's Inaugural. —
Subsequent Benefactions. — The McGraw Building. — Sibley
College of Mechanic Arts. — Female Education. — The Sage
College. — Sage Chapel. — University Sermons. — Jennie
McGraw's Generous Efforts. — New Buildings. — Grand Devel-
opment.— Increased Equipment and Enlarged Facilities. —
The Founder's Aims and Hopes.

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY was formally opened for
the reception of students in the autumn of 1868,
and the event marked an era in the history of Ith-
aca, long to be remembered by her citizens. The
village was thronged with visiting strangers, and
everything betokened a joyous holiday. Many
prominent citizens were present from distant
sections of the State, as well, indeed, as from
many different States. Prominent officers of the
State government, and educators of eminence in
their profession, were present in large numbers,
and the occasion altogether was one of excep-
tional interest in the educational annals of the

FOUNDER'S ADDRESS. 199

State. A large concourse of people were in at-
tendance at the lecture room of the Cornell Li-
brary, where, on Wednesday, October 7th, the
formal exercises of the inauguration occurred.
The address of the FOUNDER, and some extracts
from that of PRESIDENT WHITE, are here inserted
as pertinent to a review of the history of the Uni-
versity.

MR. CORNELL'S REMARKS.

Mr. Chairman, Citizens, and Friends : I fear that many of you
have visited Ithaca at this time to meet with disappointment. If
you came as did a friend recently from Pennsylvania, " expecting
to find a finished institution," you will look around, be disap-
pointed with what you see, and report on your return to your
home, as he did, " I did not find one single thing finished."

Such, my friends, is not the entertainment we invite you to.
We did not expect to have " a single thing finished," we did not
desire it, and we have not directed our energies to that end. It is
the commencement that we have now in hand. We did expect to
have commenced an institution of learning, which will mature in
the future to a great degree of usefulness, which will place at the
disposal of the industrial and productive classes of society the
best facilities for the acquirement of practical knowledge and
mental culture, on such terms as the limited means of the most
humble can command.

I hope we have laid the foundation of an institution which shall
combine practical with liberal education, which shall fit the youth
of our country for the professions, the farms, the mines, the man-
ufactories, for the investigations of science, and for mastering all
the practical questions of life with success and honor.

I believe that we have made the beginning of an institution
which will prove highly beneficial to the poor young men and the
poor young women of our country. This is one thing which we

200 EZRA CORNELL.

have not finished, but in the course of time we hope to reach such
a state of perfection as will enable any one, by honest efforts and
earnest labor, to secure a thorough, practical, scientific or classi-
cal education. The individual is better, society is better, and the
State is better for the culture of the citizen ; therefore, we desire
to extend the means for the culture of all.

I trust that we have made the beginning of an institution which
shall bring science more directly to the aid of agriculture, and
other branches of productive labor. Chemistry has the same
great stores of wealth in reserve for agriculture that it has lavished
so profusely upon the arts. We must instruct the young farmer
how to avail himself of this hidden treasure.

The veterinarian will shield him against many of the losses which
are frequent in his flocks and herds, losses which are now sub-
mitted to as matters of course by the uneducated farmer, and
which, in the aggregate, amount to millions of dollars every year
in our own State alone.

The entomologist must arm him for more successful warfare in
defence of his growing crops, as the ravages of insects upon both
grain and fruit have become enormous, resulting also in the loss of
many millions of dollars each year.

Thus, in whatever direction we turn, we find ample opportunity
for the applications of science in aid of the toiling millions. May
we not hope that we have made the beginning of an institution
which will strengthen the arm of the mechanic and multiply his
powers of production through the agency of a better cultivated
brain ? Any person who visits our Patent Office, at Washington,
and contemplates the long halls stored with rejected models, will
realize that our mechanics have great need of this aid.

The farmer is also enriched by increasing the knowledge and
power of the mechanic. Mechanism, as applied to agriculture,
was the great motive power which enabled the American farmers
to feed the nation while it was struggling for existence against the
late wicked rebellion, and it will enable them to pay the vast
debts incurred by the nation while crushing that rebellion. This
is an inviting field in which we must labor most earnestly. The

A BEGINNING. 2OI

mechanic should cease the fruitless effort " to bore an auger hole
with a gimlet."

I desire that this shall prove to be the beginning of an institu-
tion which shall furnish better means for the culture of all men, of
every calling, of every aim ; which shall make men more truthful,
more honest, more virtuous, more noble, more manly ; which
shall give them higher purposes, and more lofty aims, qualifying
them to serve their fellow- men better, preparing them to serve
society better, training them to be more useful in their rela-
tions to the State, and to better comprehend their higher and
holier relations to their families and their God. It shall be our
aim and our constant effort to make true Christian men, with-
out dwarfing, or paring them down to fit the narrow gauge of
any sect.

Finally, I trust we have laid the foundation of an University —
" an institution where any person can find instruction in any
study."

Such have been our purposes. In that direction we have put
forth our efforts, and on the future of such an institution we rest
our hopes. If we have been successful in our beginning, to that
extent and no further may we hope to be encouraged by the award
of your approval. We have purposed that the finishing shall be
the work of the future, and we ask that its approval or condem-
nation shall rest upon the quality of its maturing fruit.

To take the leadership of this great work, we have selected a
gentleman and a scholar, who, though young in years, we present
before you to-day for inauguration, with entire confidence that
the " right man is in the right place."

We have also selected a faculty which, I trust, will very soon
convince you that we have not thus early in the enterprise com-
menced blundering. They are in the main young men, and they
are quite content to be judged by their works.

Invoking the blessing of Heaven upon our undertaking, we com-
mend our cause to the scrutiny and the judgment of the American
people.

202 EZRA CORNELL.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WHITE.

Six years ago, in the most bitter hour of the Republic, in
her last hour, as many thought, amid most desperate measures
of war, the councils of the United States gave thought and work
to a far-reaching measure of peace. They made provision for a
new system of advanced education ; they cut this system loose
from some old ideas under which education had been groaning ;
they grafted into it some new ideas for which education had been
longing ; they so arranged it that every State might enjoy it ;
they imposed but few general conditions, and these grounded in
right reason ; they fettered it with no unworthy special conditions ;
they planned it broadly ; they endowed it munificently.

This is one of the great things in American history — nay, one
of the great things in the world history. In all the annals of re-
publics, there is no more significant utterance of confidence in
national destiny out from the midst of national calamity.

Four years ago, war still raging, a citizen of this State, an arti-
san who had wrought his way to wealth, but who, in wealth, for-
got not the labors and longings of poverty, offered to supplement
this public gift with a private gift no less munificent. He alloyed
it with no whimseys, he fettered it with no crotchets ; he simply
asked that his bounty might carry out a plan large and fair.

Three years ago the State of New York, after some groping, ac-
cepted these gifts, refused to scatter and waste them, concentra-
ted them in a single effort for higher education, and fixed on a
system of competitive examinations to bring under the direct ad-
vantages of this education the most worthy students in every cor-
ner of her domain. Six months afterward the authorities to whom
the new effort was entrusted met in this pleasant village. Among
them were the highest officers of the State. He who had offered
the private endowment appeared before them. He not only re-
deemed his promise — he did more — he added to it princely gifts
which he had not promised ; more than that, his earnest manner
showed that he was about to give something more precious by far
— his whole life. So was founded the Cornell University.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 203

Months followed, and this same man did for the State what she
could not do for herself; he applied all his shrewdness and energy
to placing the endowment from the United States on a better
footing. Other States had sold the scrip with which they were
endowed at rates ruinously low ; the founder of this University
aided the State to make such an investment that its endowment
developed in far larger measure than the most sanguine ever
dared hope.

Such, gentlemen of the Board of Trustees and fellow-citizens,
are the simple landmarks in the progress of this institution hith-
erto— not to weary you with a long detail of minor labors and
trials ; such is the history in the chronological order, the order
of facts.

Proceeding thence to review the work thus far
accomplished, and discussing at considerable
length the theory of organization and the plans
of operation which were to direct and govern
the conduct of the institution, the President con-
cluded as follows :

Gentlemen of the Faculty ; After this imperfect suggestion of
the ideas underlying, forming, permeating our work, I appeal to
you. The task before us is difficult. It demands hard thought,
hard work. You will be called upon to exercise skill, energy, and
forbearance. The faculty of this institution is the last place in
the world for a man of mere dignity or of elegant ease.

But if the toil be great, the reward also is great. It is the re-
ward which the successful professor so prizes — the sight of men
made strong for the true, the beautiful, and the good through your
help. The petty vanity of official station too often corrodes what
is best in man ; the pride of wealth is poverty indeed for heart,
or soul, or mind ; but the honest pride of the university instructor,

204 EZRA CORNELL.

seeing his treasures in noble scholars within the university and
noble men outside its halls, is something far more worthy.

Said St. Felippo Neri as he, day after day, came to the door of
the college at Rome at the time when the English scholars passed
out, young men who were to be persecuted and put to death under
the cruel laws of Elizabeth of England, " I am come to feast my
eyes on those martyrs yonder."

So may each of us feast our eyes on scholars, writers, revealers
of nature, leaders in art, statesmen, who shall go in and out of
yonder halls.

Let us labor in this spirit. The work of every one of us, even
of those who deal with material forces, is a moral work. Henry
Thomas Buckley was doubtless wrong in the small weight he as-
cribed to moral forces, but he was doubtless right in his high
estimate of the moral value of material forces. He found but half
the truth ; let us recognize the whole truth ; let it be full-orbed.
Every professor who works to increase material welfare acts to
increase moral welfare.

I ask your aid as advisers, as friends. Let us hold ourselves in
firm phalanx for truth and against error.

To you also, who appear in the first classes of students of the
Cornell University : — You have had the faith and courage to cast in
your lot with a new institution ; you have preferred its roughness
to the smoothness of more venerable organizations ; you have not
feared to aid in an experiment, knowing that there must be some
groping and some stumbling. I will not ask you to be true to us.
I will ask you to be true to yourselves. In Heaven's name, be
men. Is it not time that some poor student traditions be sup-
planted by better ? You are not here to be made ; you are here
to make yourselves. You are not here to hang upon an Uni-
versity ; you are here to help build an University. This is no
place for children's tricks and toys, for exploits which only excite
the wonderment of boarding-school misses. You are here to be-
gin a man's work in the greatest time and land the world has yet
known. I bid you take hold, take hold with the National Con-
gress, with the State authorities, with Ezra Cornell, with the trus-

A MONUMENT. 205

tees, with the faculty, to build here, by manly conduct and by
study, an University which shall be your pride. You are part of
it. From your midst are to come its trustees, professors. Look
to it that you be ready for your responsibilities.

Gentlemen of the Trustees : In accepting to-day, formally, the
trust which for two years I have discharged really, I desire to
thank you for your steady co-operation and support in the past,
and ask its continuance.

You well know the trust was not sought by me. You well know
with what misgivings it was accepted. In the utmost sincerity I
say that it will be the greatest happiness of my life to be able, at
some day not remote, to honorably resign it into hands worthier
and stronger than my own.

Not a shadow of discord has ever disturbed our relations. Per-
mit me to ask for my brothers in the faculty the same cordiality
which you have extended to me.

You have been pleased to express satisfaction with my adminis-
tration thus far ; I trust that with this aid the work may be
better.

And, in conclusion, to you, our honored Founder : I may not
intrude here my own private gratitude for kindnesses innumerable.
Sturdily and steadily you have pressed on this enterprise, often
against discouragement, sometimes against obloquy. But the
people of this great commonwealth have stood by you. Evidences
of it are seen in a thousand forms, but at this moment most of all
in the number of their sons who have come to enjoy your bounty.

You were once publicly charged with a high crime. It was de-
clared that you " sought to erect a great monument" for yourself.

Sir, would to heaven that more of our citizens might seek to
rear monuments such as this of yours. They are, indeed, lasting.
The names chiselled in granite in the days of Elihu Yale and John
Harvard have been effaced, but Yale and Harvard bear aloft for-
ever the names of their founders. The ordinary great men of
days gone by, the holders of high office, the leaders of rank — who
remembers their names now ? Who does not remember the
names of founders or benefactors of our universities ? Harvard

206 EZRA CORNELL.

and Yale, Dartmouth and Bowdoin, Brown and Amherst, all an-
swer this question.

The names of Packer, Vassar, Cooper, Wells, Cornell, they
are solidly rooted in what shall stand longest in this nation. They
shall see a vast expanse of mushroom names go down, but theirs
shall remain forever. Their benefactions lift them into the view
of all men.

But, sir, I will bear testimony here that your name was never
thrust forward by yourself. You care little, indeed, what any man
thinks of you or of your actions, but I feel it a duty to state that you
were preparing to deal munificently with the institution under a
different name, when another insisted that your own name should
be given it.

It has happened to me to see your persistence, your energy, and
your sincerity tested. We have been too much together for me to
flatter you now, but I will say to your fellow-citizens that no man
ever showed greater energy in piling up a fortune for himself than
you have shown to heap up this benefaction for your countrymen.
You have given yourself to it.

Therefore, in the name of this commonwealth, and this nation,
I thank you. I know that I am as really empowered to do so in
their behalf as if I held their most formal credentials. I thank
you for those present, for those to come. May you be long spared
to us. May this be a monument which shall make earnest men
more earnest, and despondent men take heart. May there ever
rest upon it the approval of good men. Above all, may it have
the blessing of God.

The generous example of the founder of the
Cornell University speedily promoted in others an
ambition to assist in the great work of building
up and developing the institution which he loved
so well. John McGraw, of Ithaca, one of the orig-
inal trustees, erected at his individual expense

BENEFACTORS. 2O/

the McGraw Building. This noble edifice, which
accommodates the library and museum of the Uni-
versity, cost about one hundred thousand dol-
lars. Hiram Sibley, of Rochester, also an orig-
inal trustee, provided the handsome building and
equipment for the college of mechanic arts, at an
expense of more than fifty thousand dollars.
President White built out of his own private for-
tune, at the cost of more than sixty thousand
dollars, a very elegant residence for the Presi-
dent of the University. May it be many long
years before he shall feel constrained to surrender
it to his successor. Henry W. Sage, now chair-
man of the board of trustees of the University,
has contributed more than three hundred thou-
sand dollars for the building and endowment of
Sage College, and for the erection of the beauti-
ful chapel on the campus, as well as the exten-
sive conservatories for the botanical department.

These gentlemen have also at different times
advanced large sums for various important ne-
cessities of the institution. Dean Sage, of Al-
bany, furnished a permanent endowment for
the Sage Chapel, from the income of which the
most eminent clergymen in the entire country, of
all denominations, are engaged to conduct reli-
gious services each sabbath during the school
term. Thus the students have the extraordinary

208 EZRA CORNELL.

privilege, quite unequalled elsewhere, of having
presented before them, each year, twenty or more
of the most distinguished pulpit orators of Amer-
ica. These services are largely attended, not
only by students, but also by citizens of Ithaca.

Miss Jennie McGraw presented a chime of bells,
which were placed in the tower of the McGraw
Building. She also made large bequests to the
University, in her will, but at the present time the
right to receive these bequests is being contested
before the Surrogate by the person to whom she
was married in the last year of her life. Other
contributions, large and small, have also been
made by many other persons. The combined
offerings of all these generous benefactors, add-
ed to the other revenues of the institution, have
enabled the management to make many valuable
improvements.

Within the past year a physical laboratory has
been completed and brought into use, which, for
superior excellence in all of its details and for the
completeness of its equipments is claimed to be
equal to any in this country or Europe. A large
and handsome building, serving the double pur-
pose of an armory and drill-room for the military
department, and for general assemblies and com-
mencement exercises, has also recently been com-
pleted, and adds very much to the necessary con-

SAGE COLLEGE. 209

veniences of the institution. In connection with
the last-named building- there has also been pro-
vided a very complete gymnasium, with every
appliance for physical culture and healthful exer-
cise.

THE SAGE COLLEGE.

From the very beginning of the enterprise for
the establishment of the Cornell University, it
was the hope and expectation of Mr. Cornell that
provision should be made for the education of
women on a perfect equality with the male stu-
dents. President White was also in full sym-
pathy with this idea, but it was his opinion that
some special facilities should be provided before
this condition could be properly announced. Con-
forming to his judgment in this respect, no refer-
ence was made to the subject of co-education in
the report of the plan of organization, nor in the
official prospectus of the University.

The founder, however, made reference to his
own anticipation and desire in this direction, in
his address at the opening of the University.
The unexpectedly large attendance of male stud-
ents at the very outset, however, taxed to the ut-
most all of the facilities which had been provided,
or that the financial resources of the institution
were sufficient to furnish, and the subject of pro-
M

210 EZRA CORNELL.

viding for female students was allowed to lie
dormant for the first two years of practical opera-
tions.

At the annual meeting of the trustees of the
University, in June, 1871, a proposition was re-
ceived from the Hon. Henry W. Sage, offering to
contribute $250,000, one-half to be used for the
erection of an edifice for the accommodation of
female students, and the other half to be invested
as a special endowment for the maintenance of
the building, on condition that women should
be admitted to all of the departments of the
University on equal terms with the male students.

Some of the trustees were outspoken in their
opposition to the admission of women on any
terms whatever, but the offer of Mr. Sage was
referred to a special committee for consideration
and report. After a thorough investigation of
the subject, President White, on behalf of a ma-
jority of the committee, submitted to the board of
trustees, in February, 1872, an elaborate and ex-
haustive report recommending " that Mr. Sage's
gift be accepted on the conditions named by him,
and that the establishment created under it be
known as the Sage College of Cornell Univer-
sity."

This report was adopted by the board of
trustees by nearly an unanimous vote. A plan of

HIGHER STANDARD. 211

the building was perfected, and preparations for
its erection were instituted during the ensuing
year. The corner stone was laid with interest-
ing ceremonies, May 15, 1873, including addresses
by President White, Mr. Sage, Mr. Cornell,
Chancellor Winchell, of Syracuse University, Pro-
fessor Tyler, Professor Goldwin Smith, Professor
Sprague, and President Angell, of the University
of Michigan. The edifice, which was completed
the following year, is one of the most elegant and
imposing college buildings in the country, and is
in every respect most admirably adapted to the
purposes for which it is designed. It forms a no-
ble addition to the grand collection of buildings
which have been erected for the use of the Uni-
versity, and is a monument which does great credit
to the generous instincts of its liberal hearted
patron.

In each succeeding year of the progress of the
University its standard of scholarship has been
constantly raised. The qualifications requisite for
admission have been placed higher and higher each
year, in order that only those should be accepted
who could give reasonable promise of success-
fully completing the University course and reach-
ing their degrees. The departments, or special
courses of instruction have been augmented from
nine to fourteen, and the faculty now embraces

212 EZRA CORNELL.

more than fifty persons, as follows : Non-resident
Professors, five ; Resident Professors, twenty-
five ; Associate Professors, four ; Assistant Pro-
fessors, twelve ; Instructors, six ; Curators, Fore-
men, and other subordinate officers, nine. The
library has advanced until it now contains about
forty-six thousand volumes, besides fourteen thou-
sand pamphlets. The various collections have
also largely increased, and now embrace the ne-
cessary material for illustration in almost every
branch of study and research.

Probably no college or university ever attained
such prominence and standing among the estab-
lished institutions of the whole country in such
short time as the Cornell University. In some
respects, perhaps, this was unfortunate, as it
aroused expectations beyond the facilities of a
new and undeveloped institution. With all of the
wealth that has been so generously lavished upon
it, the trustees have never yet, in any year, been
able to respond to nearly all the calls made upon
them for means to provide the facilities which
have been demanded. Despite every embar-
rassment, however, the progress in nearly every
important department has certainly been most
gratifying. In every competition with the chosen
representatives of other colleges, whether in
intellectual contests or in athletic sports, the

GRAND RESULTS. 21 3

Cornell University has carried away its full share
of honors. In every field of professional and
scientific activity the graduates of Cornell are
achieving- honorable repute and adding lustre to
the name of their Alma Mater.

Although only now in the fifteenth year of prac-
tical operation, Cornell University has already
sent forth about one thousand graduates, who
are taking high rank in the communities in which
they have located. This is especially true in ref-
erence to those graduating from the departments
of civil engineering and architecture. While, per-
haps, students in other departments are equally
well equipped in their specialties, the demand for
services in these particular vocations seems to
offer better opportunities for graduates than other
professions. In public life the graduates of Cor-
nell have already made gratifying progress. Since
the year 1876 no Legislature of the State of New
York has assembled which did not contain on its
list of members from one to four of the graduates
of the University; while in other representative
capacities they are found to occupy a fair share of
public favor.

The purpose of the founder of Cornell Univer-
sity was expressed by himself on one occasion in
these words: " I would found an institution where
any person can find instruction in any study."

214 EZRA CORNELL.

This comprehensive declaration, terse in words
and pregnant with ideas, was chosen by the trus-
tees as the motto of the institution, and placed on
the official seal of the University, there to remain
as a constant reminder of the noble aims and
high hopes of him who gave the best labors of his
life to the successful establishment of this benefi-
cent institution. May these simple but expressive
words inspire all who are or may hereafter be re-
sponsible for the administration of its affairs, to the
highest possible endeavors toward the attainment
of the object which was so dear to their revered
and honored founder. The work which he planned
with so much wisdom, and which he labored so
diligently and unselfishly to promote, remains for
them to carry forward toward ultimate success.
May his example be emulated by those who fol-
low in the course marked out by him.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY.— THE LAND GRANT

FUND.

Conditions of the Appropriation. — Depreciation in Value of Land
Scrip — Prospects of Meagre Endowment. — Mr. Cornell Vol-
unteers to Locate Public Lands for Benefit of the University.
— Contract with the Comptroller. — Immense Labors. — Large
Advances. — Gratuitous Services. — Serious Illness. — Contract
Transferred to University Authorities. — Successful Realiza-
tion.— Traducers. — Vilification. — Cruel Misrepresentations. —
Official Investigation. — Complete Vindication.

THE donation of public lands made by the Con-
gress of the United States to the several States
and Territories of the Union was explicitly dedi-
cated, by the terms of the enactment, " to the en-
dowment, support, and maintenance of at least
one college, where the leading object shall be,
without excluding other scientific and classical
studies, and including military tactics, to teach
such branches of learning as are related to agri-
culture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as
the Legislatures of the States may respectively
prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and
practical education of the industrial classes in

2l6 EZRA CORNELL.

the several pursuits and professions of life." This
measure, introduced by the Hon. Justin S. Morrill,
of Vermont, and approved by President Lincoln
July 2, 1862, granted to each State a quantity of
public land equal to thirty thousand acres for each
Senator and Representative in Congress to which
the States were respectively entitled by the ap-
portionment under the census of 1860. The total
amount of land required to meet this appropriation
was nine million four hundred and twenty thousand
acres, of which the proportion belonging to the
State of New York was nine hundred and ninety
thousand acres.

The nominal valuation of the public lands, fixed
by the United States, is one dollar and a quar-
ter per acre, but, unfortunately, in this act, while
the States were required to sell their scrip, there
was no price named in any way limiting the sum to
be realized for such sales. The inevitable conse-
quence of this oversight was to speedily depre-
ciate the value of land scrip, and the large quan-
tities offering by the several States continued to
depress current quotations. The Comptroller of
New York received the share to which the State
was entitled, in 1864. The market value of the
land at that time was about eighty-five cents per
acre, which was the price fixed by the State offi-
cers for its sale. At that price seventy-six thou-

THE LAND SCRIP. 217

sand acres were sold in 1864, the avails of which
had been received by the Comptroller, and by him
invested for the trust designated, prior to the en-
actment of the charter of the Cornell University,
April 27, 1865. At that date the selling price of
land warrants had fallen to about fifty cents per
acre, with the prospect that the offering of any
considerable amount would still further reduce the
current value.

It was apparent, therefore, that if the remainder
were to be sold at the best available market rate,
the entire proceeds of the Land Grant Fund
would amount to only about $500,000. It was
Mr. Cornell's belief that if the warrants could be
located on well-selected timber lands in some of
the Western States, a much larger sum could be
realized from the advance in the value of lands so
secured. He found, as the result of careful in-
quiry, that the location of desirable public lands
well covered with pine timber, had been uni-
formly successful.

By the terms of the Congressional act, no State
could itself locate public lands within another
State, and as there were no federal lands within
this State, no disposition of the grant was avail-
able but the actual sale of the scrip. Mr. Cor-
nell endeavored to induce the trustees of the
University to purchase it from the State, and

2l8 EZRA CORNELL.

locate the lands directly for the benefit of the in-
stitution, offering himself to advance the money
necessary to defray the expenses of the examina-
tion and location of the lands.

The University, however, had no revenue be-
yond the requirements for its current necessary
expenditures, and the trustees felt unwilling to en-
cumber themselves with the burden of annual ex-
penses and local taxation which would be in-
volved by that course. This was probably a
wise decision, in view of the subsequent history of
the enterprise, as it is more than probable that
they would have been induced to sell the lands to
relieve themselves from their financial burden too
soon to realize the full measure of benefit which,
under other circumstances, finally accrued to the
University from this source.

Finding, at last, that there was no other avail-
able mode of saving to the cause of education
the great value which he felt sure could be real-
ized from the Land Grant by its proper treat-
ment, Mr. Cornell made a proposition to the
Comptroller, offering to purchase the scrip at
sixty cents per acre, (payable one-half down, and
the balance when realized from sales,) locate the
land at his own expense, pay the local taxes and
other necessary expenses, and obligate himself to
pay into the State treasury, for the benefit of the

A PREDICTION. 2 19

Cornell University, the entire profits to be realized
from the sale of the lands thus located. In his let-
ter to the Comptroller, under date June 9, 1866,
tendering this proposition, Mr. Cornell estimated
that a clear profit could be realized, for the bene-
fit of the University, of at least $1,600,000 above
and beyond the sixty cents per acre to be paid
into the State Treasury to the credit of the Col-
lege Land Scrip Fund. With the concurrence of
the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State
of New York, the Comptroller accepted the prop-
osition, and entered into a formal contract with
Mr. Cornell on the basis stated, which was duly
executed in the month of September, 1866.

To those familiar with the details of selecting
and locating public lands, the magnitude of the
undertaking of thus handling eight hundred thou-
sand acres will be readily understood. For the
information of others not thus familiar, it may
briefly be stated that it was first necessary to in-
spect, by the personal examination of a trusted
agent, each section of land available for location,
and estimate the quantity of standing timber con-
tained thereon, in order to secure the selection of
lands of desirable value. Within the first year of
these operations, Mr. Cornell disbursed more
than $200,000 on account of the expenses inci-
dent to the location of the land scrip, and on Sep-

220 EZRA CORNELL.

tember 30, 1874, he had advanced for the pur-
chase of warrants and expense of location, for
local taxes and other expenditures for the neces-
sary protection of the lands from depredation, be-
yond what was received for lands and timber
sold, the large amount of $525,082.77. Of the
lands selected for location much the largest por-
tion, probably seven-eighths of the whole amount,
consisted of the pine timber lands of Wisconsin,
and the balance was superior farming land in
Minnesota and Kansas.

In the spring of 1874 Mr. Cornell was suddenly
prostrated with severe illness, in consequence of
which he was for many months confined to his
room, and wholly incapacitated from giving atten-
tion to business affairs. He had overtaxed his
usually robust constitution by the extraordinary
labors with which he had for years burdened him-
self in the interests of the University, and when
exhausted by the effects of a protracted and pain-
ful illness, he lacked the necessary vitality for res-
toration to health and strength. His physician
imperatively urged that he must be relieved from
the cares of business as a condition of possible
recovery.

He was, therefore, finally constrained to ask
the trustees of the University to relieve him from
further service in the Land Grant enterprise, and to

CONTRACT TRANSFERRED. 221

take upon themselves the responsibility of carry-
ing out the provisions of the contract with the
State. Mr. Cornell had borne the weight of .this
great undertaking, taxing both his financial re-
sources and his physical strength for a period of
eight long years, and it only now remained for
the trustees to patiently await the fruition of his
wise foresight and unselfish labors. The lands
were rapidly appreciating in value, and there was
every promise of abundant reward in the ultimate
profits to be realized by the University. The
commissioners of the Land Office approved the
proposed transfer of the contract to the board of
trustees, which was finally accomplished in the
month of November, 1874, a few weeks prior to
the lamented death of the founder. The same gen-
eral policy of management which had been pur-
sued by Mr. Cornell in the administration of the
trust was continued by the University authorities.
The derangement and prostration of business
affairs following the great financial crisis of 1873
was wide-spread and long-continued. In no other
branch of business was it more severely felt, prob-
ably, than in the lumber trade. The cessation of
building operations curtailed the demand for lum-
ber, and reduced its value below the cost of manu-
facture. Owing to this serious and protracted de-
pression in the condition of the lumber business,

EZRA CORNELL.

the demand for timber lands was limited, thus
checking the advance in the value of this class
of property, which had been very marked prior to
the transfer of the Land Grant contract to the
University.

For some years subsequent to that event,
sales of the lands were slow, but sufficient to
furnish means with which to provide for the ex-
penses of carrying the lands without resort to
other resources. The final exhaustion of other
sources of timber supply, however, soon brought
the valuable lands of Wisconsin more especially to
the attention of buyers, and when renewed pros-
perity of the country began to manifest itself, as it
did in 1880, the demand for the University lands
became active and strong, and large sales were
effected at prices which were very gratifying.
The aggregate sales of these lands, which had
been effected down to the close of 1882, amounted
to about three million seven hundred thousand
dollars. The total expenses for location, local
taxes, interest, and care of lands, including the
cost of the land scrip, were in the vicinity of one
million five hundred thousand dollars, thus show-
ing profits accruing to the University of about two
million two hundred thousand dollars ; while there
still remain unsold, lands which will yield several
hundred thousand dollars to be added thereto.

SUCCESSFUL REALIZATION. 223

Too much praise cannot be given to the Hon.
Henry W. Sage, who succeeded Mr. Cornell as
the chairman of the board of trustees, and upon
whom, since the death of the founder, the great
responsibility of this good work has fallen. He
was peculiarly qualified for the intelligent and
sagacious discharge of these duties, by reason of
his previous successful experience in this par-
ticular line of business, extending over a long
period of years. The successful administration of
this great trust, and the gratifying results pro-
duced by it, vindicate in the highest manner the
wisdom and foresight of Mr. Cornell in project-
ing the policy of locating the lands for the bene-
fit of the University.

Every dollar of profit realized for the endowment
of the University, from the location and sale of
public lands, was just as positively contributed by
Mr. Cornell as though it had been paid out of his
private fortune. He foresaw the advantages to
be secured as the result of that policy, and he had
the courage as well as the disposition to undertake
it unaided. He furnished the capital, amounting
to half a million of dollars, which was indispensa-
bly necessary to carry the enterprise through to a
successful termination. Others were solicited to
render assistance, but none were found willing to
make the venture. With him it was a work of

224 EZRA CORNELL,

love, in which he enlisted with all of the charac-
teristic determination of his personality. He is,
therefore, to be credited, including his direct con-
tributions, with an aggregate benefaction in be-
half of the University of at least three and a half
millions of dollars. This magnificent endowment
will place the Cornell University among the two
or three wealthiest educational establishments in
America, and wisely administered, there can
hardly be a limit to the extent of usefulness which
will flow from its operations.

This great work was undertaken by Mr. Cor-
nell without fee or reward. Neither he nor any
member of his family was to be benefited to the ex-
tent of a single dollar. It was his original proposi-
tion, and it was so stipulated in his contract with
the Comptroller, that every dollar of profit should
inure to the exclusive benefit of the Cornell
University. His services were rendered without
compensation, and he was almost exclusively en-
gaged in the conduct of the enterprise for a peri-
od of nearly eight years. Members of his family
also rendered valuable service in the details of the
business, for which no charge was ever made nor

O

compensation rendered in any form. Never was
a work taken up and carried forward from higher
motives, nor with more devoted regard to the in-
terests involved.

VILIFICA TION. 22 S

Reviewing these circumstances from this dis-
tance, it is extremely difficult to realize how
malignantly Mr. Cornell was libelled and misrep-
resented in reference to the philanthropic labors
which he had taken upon himself with such un-
selfish devotion to the public good. He was
with coarse brutality assailed in the public press
and in the halls of the Legislature by the parti-
sans of petty institutions which had endeavored,
but failed, to secure the whole or a portion of the
Land Grant income. He was denounced as a
land grabber and a corruptionist of the worst kind.
No terms of obloquy were too vile to apply to
him, and yet his only offence, in thought or deed,
was to contribute his own money, with lavish hand,
to build up a great college for the people of the
State of New York, and to save, for its exclusive
use, every possible dollar of the intrinsic value
of the princely domain granted by Congress, for
the benefit of agricultural and mechanical educa-
tion in the State.

These vile insinuations, which, though repeat-
edly demonstrated to be absolutely without foun-
dation, were reiterated year after year, in one form
or another, until finally, in 1873, the Legislature or-
dered an investigation of the entire subject of the
Land Grant contract and it3 administration, and
authorized the appointment of a commission for that

226 EZRA CORNELL.

purpose, which was directed to report to the next
Legislature. Governor Dix named as the mem-
bers of that commission Governor Horatio Sey-
mour, Vice-President William A. Wheeler, and
Colonel John D. Van Buren. They devoted sev-
eral months to the investigation, giving the assail-
ants of Mr. Cornell the widest possible latitude to
enable them to substantiate their charges. The
result of the investigation and the unanimous re-
port of the commission to the Legislature was in
all respects a complete vindication of Mr. Cornell
and of his administration of the trust which had
been committed to him by the officers of the
State. The result of this proceeding effectually
silenced the slanderers, and the generous founder
of the University was thereafter permitted to de-
vote himself to his philanthropic labors without
farther molestation.

CHAPTER XVIII.

RAILROADS.

Geographical Location of Ithaca. — Early Prosperity. — Injured by
Railway Development. — Declining Importance. — Inaccess-
ible.— Necessity for Additional Facilities of Travel. — Ithaca
& Athens Railroad. — Ithaca & Cortland. — Geneva & Ithaca.
— Utica, Ithaca & Elmira. — Bonding Towns. — Inability to
Complete Roads. — Mr. Cornell Undertakes the Work. — Fi-
nancial Crisis, 1873. — Embarrassments. — Fatal Illness and
Death. — Sale of Interests. — Great Losses. — Superb Facilities
for Travel Provided.

THE peculiar geographical location of Ithaca has
at different periods of its history exercised a ma-
terial influence upon its prosperity and develop-
ment as a business centre. In the early days of
the navigation of the canal system of the State,
the situation of Ithaca at the head of Cayuga
Lake, through which connection with the Erie
Canal was secured, made it a point of shipment
for the products of a large section of country, em-
bracing the southern tier from Binghamton to
Elmira and the adjacent northern counties in
Pennsylvania.

Supplies of merchandize received by canal and

228 EZRA CORNELL.

lake at Ithaca were distributed through this ex-
tensive region by teams which had brought lum-
ber, grain, and coal for shipment. In view of the
magnitude of this traffic, a railway — one of the
first built in this State, and indeed in this country
—was projected and constructed between Ithaca
and Owego. This road — the first for which
ground was broken within the State — with its
celebrated inclined planes, worked by stationary
power, to overcome the high elevation near Ithaca,
was completed and put in operation about the
year 1832. Like many similar enterprises, the
road found inadequate business for its support, and
proved a failure financially. After a few years of
languishing business, it was abandoned by its
owners, and finally ceased its operations for a
number of years, until rebuilt by a new company.
So long as Ithaca commanded the trade of this
extensive interior country, it continued to prosper,
but the ultimate extension of the Chemung Canal
from the head of Seneca Lake to Elmira, and the
Chenango Canal from Utica to Binghamton, di-
verted much of the commercial traffic which had
formerly found its outlet by way of Ithaca and
the Cayuga Lake. Later, when the New York
& Erie Railroad was extended along the south-
ern tier, and branches were constructed from
Binghamton to Syracuse, and from Elmira to Ca-

PROSPERITY CHECKED. 229

nandaigua, the territory tributary to the business
interests of Ithaca was substantially confined to
the County of Tompkins. In 1849 the railroad
between Ithaca and Qwego was rebuilt, thus plac-
ing Ithaca in railway connection with the Erie
road at Owego, as it was also connected by steam-
boat navigation with the New York Central road
at Cayuga Bridge. Thus the situation of Ithaca
was changed from a point of commercial impor-
tance, commanding an extensive trade from a
wide range of territory, to that of a mere local
village, isolated from the great lines of travel and
connected with them by transportation of very
limited character. It was no wonder, therefore,
that the growth of the village was checked and
the ambition of its residents substantially culmin-
ated.

Such was the condition of Ithaca when Mr. Cor-
nell projected the establishment there of a great
educational institution. One of the first, and really
the most serious embarrassment that was real-
ized as to the location of the University, was the
lack of adequate facilities for travel. Four months
in each year the lake was closed with ice, and com-
munication with the Central road depended upon
stages, or, if by rail, by the circuitous route via
Owego and Binghamton to Syracuse. All felt
that this condition of things must be overcome, or

230 EZRA CORNELL.

the University would fail to accomplish its proper
mission on account of its isolated situation.

The development of the Pennsylvania coal
fields had already given new life to the Susque-
hanna Valley, and the people of that locality were
seeking railway facilities to connect them with the
canal system of New York, as an outlet for their
coal product. To meet this necessity, the Ithaca
& Athens Railroad Company was organized in
1866, with Mr. Cornell as president. This com-
pany constructed a railroad from Ithaca to Athens,
where it connected with the Lehigh Valley Rail-
way via Wilkesbarre to New York and Philadel-
phia.

The new road, while developing important busi-
ness interests and connections for Ithaca, failed to
remedy in any important degree the lack of rail-
way facilities requisite to accommodate the Uni-
versity travel. The result of greatest importance
to be accomplished was some direct communi-
cation with the Central road, but no progress
was made in this direction until the enactment of
the law authorizing the bonding of towns and vil-
lages to provide for railroad building. Under the
unhealthy stimulus of this profligate measure
several lines of railroad were projected to con-
nect Ithaca with the outer world. Three of these
projects finally gained the requisite vitality to un-

PROJECTED ROADS. 231

dertake the building of roads : one from Ithaca
to Geneva, another from Ithaca to Cayuga Bridge
along the east side of Cayuga Lake, and the third
from Ithaca to Cortland — which latter was after-
ward merged into the Utica, Ithaca & Elmira Rail-
road Company. The town of Ithaca bonded her-
self $200,000 for the Ithaca & Athens road;
$300,000 for the Geneva & Ithaca ; and the village
of Ithaca was bonded to the extent of $100,000
for the Ithaca & Cortland enterprise.

Other towns on these various routes were also
bonded for different sums, varying in amount ac-
cording to the ability of the towns or the extent
of .their active interest in the proposed roads.
Unfortunately, the easy process of issuing town
bonds encouraged the commencement of roads for
which no adequate warrant of business existed.
Besides, the great stimulation in railway building
.advanced the market value of iron and other sup-
plies to an extravagant price. In some instances
the cost of iron rails for these roads was more
than one hundred dollars per ton, and other mate-
rials in proportion. Thus the double mistake was
inevitable, of building roads which would starve
each other in competing for business inadequate
for all, and at the same time making the roads cost
one-quarter or one-third more than they would if
but half as many roads had been constructed.

232 EZRA CORNELL.

The town subscriptions and those of individuals
were generally sufficient to provide the right of
way and grade the lines, leaving the bridges, su-
perstructure, and equipment to be provided by
the bonds of the companies secured by mortgage
on the roads. Mr. Cornell, as was his custom in
regard to all local enterprises, subscribed liberally
to the stock of the several roads leading from
Ithaca, but his constant occupation in the conduct
of the business of the Land Grant contract, pre-
vented his taking an active part in the preliminary
work of the later organized roads. Inability of
the managers of the Geneva & Ithaca road to
place their bonds at any satisfactory rate, led them
to appeal to Mr. Cornell for assistance, and he
was finally induced to take the $800,000 of bonds
in order to provide for the completion of the
road, which seemed likely to fail of accomplish-
ment without his aid. Under similar circumstan-
ces the Utica, Ithaca & Elmira Company ap-
pealed to him for assistance, without which it was
apparent that the road must be abandoned — and
this he considered would be extremely unfortu-
nate for the interests of Ithaca, and especially for
the University. He finally added this last burden
to his already heavy load of undertakings. His
loyalty to Ithaca and the University, and his anx-
iety to promote their prosperity, overcame his

FINANCIAL CRISIS. 233

good judgment, and induced him to take upon
himself obligations too great even for his exten-
sive means.

The financial crisis of 1873, which shook the
country from centre to circumference, was essen-
tially a railroad panic. The extraordinary develop-
ment in the building of railroads during the sev-
eral years after the close of the war had absorbed
enormous amounts of capital, for which there was
nothing to show but vast quantities of depre-
ciated stocks and bonds. Europe had enriched
herself on our extravagancies, and had been
gorged with an endless supply of corporate secu-
rities. One after another, enterprises which should
never have been built, began to default in the
payment of interest on their bonds, and it was
not long before these securities, which had so
recently been the favorite of all investments, came
into a general disrepute. Often the good were
condemned with the bad, for, aside from roads of
exceptional merit, there was an indiscriminate dis-
credit of all such securities.

It was just at this crisis that Mr. Cornell had
taken these new complications upon himself. He
had already given the University three-quarters
of a million dollars, and had advanced half a mil-
lion in the operations of the Land Grant contract.
The two railroads which he had undertaken to

234 EZRA CORNELL.

complete required a million and a half. By the
conversion of the remainder of his telegraph in-
terests, he raised two-thirds of this amount, and
the other third he was obliged to borrow. The
railroad bonds were absolutely discredited, and
could not be used for the purpose of raising
funds, so he was forced to pledge his personal
credit for these necessities. His courage, how-
ever, never faltered, and he went on with all of
his old-time energy and perseverance, determined
to carry his undertakings to a successful issue.

In the midst of these struggles, however, Mr.
Cornell was suddenly, in June, 1874, incapacitated
from personal attention to business by a severe
illness, which kept him indoors for several months.
This misfortune, superadded to his financial em-
barrassments, was a severe blow to his opera-
tions. The knowledge of his serious illness, at
an advanced age, with his large liabilities, and en-
cumbered with two new railway enterprises yet un-
finished, quickly impaired his credit, and rendered
the conduct of his business all the more difficult.

While his illness greatly enhanced the embar-
rassments of his business, it is undoubtedly true
that the anxieties and discouraging circumstances
which surrounded him materially aggravated the
effects of the disease which prostrated him. His
medical attendant advised absolute relief from

GREAT LOSS. 235

business cares and removal to a milder climate for
the approaching, winter. Neither of these condi-
tions could possibly be complied with, and the suf-
ferer was released from farther struggle by death,
after an illness of about six months' duration.

It is of course superfluous to say that the death
of Mr. Cornell, under the circumstances which
preceded it, left the affairs of his estate in a
most deplorable condition. With extended lia-
bilities and the necessity of large additional in-
vestments to complete the unfinished roads, the
situation was indeed alarming. Fortunately, how-
ever, the administrator of the estate was equal to
the occasion, and by heroic treatment was enabled
to save something from the threatened wreck.
Realizing that a large actual loss had already been
made, he decided that it was useless to attempt
to recover what had originally been invested in the
roads, but that it was his duty to rescue what
value then remained. He, therefore, sold the
Geneva & Ithaca road to the Lehigh Valley in-
terests for the best price he could obtain, which
was about two hundred thousand dollars, or less
than one-third of the orio-inal investment. This

o

great sacrifice proved to be extremely wise, as
subsequent events demonstrated that the entire
sum realized would have been lost to the estate
had the road been retained a few months longer.

236 EZRA CORNELL.

The condition of the Utica, Ithaca & Elmira en-
terprise, at the period of Mr. Cornell's death, was
still more embarrassing than that of the Geneva
road. Sections of the road had been so far ad-
vanced as to be put in operation between Ith-
aca and Cortland, and also between Van Etten-
ville and Horseheads. Between these separated
portions, a distance of twenty miles, the grading
had been substantially completed, and seven or
eight miles of track was laid. Under the opera-
tions of a contract concluded by Mr. Cornell a few
weeks prior to his death, means were provided
during the following year to connect these sec-
tions, and to discharge some three hundred thou-
sand dollars of his personal liabilities which
had been incurred in the enterprise. This ar-
rangement saved the estate from absolute confis-
cation which menaced it for several months, but,
down to the present time, not one dollar of the
half million invested in the road by him has ever
been realized.

Though these railroad enterprises proved ex-
ceedingly disastrous to the financial resources of
Mr. Cornell's estate — depleting it to the extent of
a million dollars —they proved extremely advan-
tageous to the prosperity of the village of Ithaca,
and furnished ample and convenient access to the
University from every section of the State. Aside

AMPLE FACILITIES. 237

from principal stations on the great through lines
of travel, probably no town in the State now en-
joys better facilities for travel and transportation
than Ithaca. Direct lines of railway communica-
tion connect that village with Elmira, Waverly,
Owego, and Binghamton, on the Erie road, and
with Geneva, Cayuga, Auburn, Lyons, Syracuse,
and Canastota, on the Central, as well as with the
main lines of the Lehigh Valley, the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western, and the New York,
West Shore & Buffalo railways.

Viewed from the present standpoint, the action
of Mr. Cornell, in taking upon himself the burden
of completing these roads, can only be regarded
as a hazardous and unwarrantable undertaking.
There are, however, many mitigating circum-
stances to be considered before passing censure
upon him as a man lacking prudent judgment. In
the first place, the investment by the town and
village of Ithaca amounting to $600,000, and of
individuals, his friends and neighbors, to a con-
siderable amount in addition, had already been
made. These interests were imperilled by the
inability to complete the roads, and the threatened
suspension of efforts in that direction would ap-
parently leave the locality more destitute than
ever of the hoped-for facilities. It was the fond
expectation of Mr. Cornell that he might avert

238 EZRA CORNELL.

these unwelcome results, and his efforts were en-
listed purely from motives of public spirit and loy-
alty to local interests. Governed by these motives,
he was more likely to overlook the merits of the
venture as an investment of his own means, than
he would have been under other circumstances.

The special causes of the disastrous conse-
quences which ensued, were of a character not
to be apparent when Mr. Cornell enlisted in the
undertakings. These were the unprecedented
financial revulsion, and the loss of his own health.
Although it was true that railway securities had,
for the time being, ceased to be considered desir-
able investments, there was no reason visible at
that period to anticipate the utter collapse which
so suddenly burst upon the country. That occur-
rence was in important respects aggravated by
numerous collateral circumstances which were
wholly invisible and could not have been estimated
in advance. It was like the explosion of an ex-
traordinary electric storm from an apparently
clear atmosphere, which carried ruin and devasta-
tion in its track. So, too, in reference to the
prostrating illness which came upon him without
warning. Though advanced in years, the firm-
ness of his general health, and the long life of his
father, gave promise of many years of activity and
usefulness.

CHAPTER XIX.

PUBLIC ENTERPRISE.— LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS.

Local Interests. — Loyal Citizenship. — Public Enterprise. — Manu-
facturing Interests. — Ontario Ship Canal. — Telegraph Con-
nections.— Glass Works. — Proposed Iron Works. — Ithaca Sav-
ings Bank. — First National Bank. — Local Prosperity. — In-
creased Population. — Extent of University Patronage. — Ro-
mantic Scenery. — Other Enterprises.

COMMENDABLE as is the disposition to foster
and promote public improvements, most men, as
a general rule, are too much absorbed in devotion
to individual interests to think of, or care much
for, the common welfare ; and it seldom happens
that those who are endowed with public spirit are
at the same time possessed of the requisite means
to gratify their patriotic impulses. The combina-
tion of these important conditions for public ad-
vancement in the same person is a fortunate con-
tingency for any community. More especially
was it fortunate for Ithaca that circumstances fa-
vored her with a citizen both able and willing to
render the necessary service to overcome the bar-
riers which checked her progress. Her peculiar

240 EZRA CORNELL.

topographical situation and the results which at-
tended the development of the great railway lines
of the State, had combined to narrow the field
of her former patronage and arrest her material
growth. Only the interposition of powerful and
energetic influences could have rescued her from
the insignificant position to which adverse fate had
consigned her.

Whatever may have been the considerations
which first attracted Mr. Cornell's attention to
Ithaca, and induced him to choose it as the loca-
tion of his home, it was certainly an incident of
the utmost importance to its subsequent develop-
ment. He had but just attained his majority when
it became the home of his adoption, and through
the remainder of his life his loyalty to the welfare of
the town was continually manifested by efforts to
promote its material prosperity. During all the
years of his engrossing engagement in the tele-
graph enterprise, he continued the residence of
his family at Ithaca at great personal incon-
venience, owing to its inaccessible location and
the difficulty of getting to and from his business.
That he did not determine to change the resi-
dence of his family to a more convenient point was
another fortunate circumstance for Ithaca, as it
would probably have resulted in his permanent
location elsewhere.

LOYAL CITIZEN. 241

Throughout his entire career Mr. Cornell
evinced an especial interest in the promotion of
all such public enterprises as promised advan-
tageous results for Ithaca. The successive steps
taken by him for the erection of the Cornell Li-
brary and the establishment of the Cornell Univer-
sity, and finally for the completion of the railways
to connect Ithaca with the outer world, were evi-
dences of the highest ambition to serve the pub-
lic weal. The extent of his contributions for the
public benefit, supplemented by so much labori-
ous personal effort to insure the most useful re-
sults, exhibited a patriotic devotion which can
probably be found in no other instance. Not
only was the great bulk of his fortune — consider-
ably more than three-fourths of it — given in fur-
therance of these objects ; his very life was prob-
ably not a little shortened in consequence of his
efforts to advance these interests so vital to the
locality. No man ever died more clearly a martyr
to the cause of his devotion, than did Ezra Cor-
nell as the result of his efforts to develop the in-
terests which were so essential to insure the con-
tinued prosperity of Ithaca.

Long before he had acquired a competence,
when he was a simple mechanic, employed in the
service of Colonel Beebe at Fall Creek, Mr.
Cornell was an early and persistent advocate of

16

242 EZRA CORNELL.

the development of additional manufacturing- in-
terests at Ithaca. He devoted much effort to call-
ing the attention of citizens and strangers to the
manifest advantages to be derived from the im-
provement of the unoccupied water power of the
Fall Creek stream. Though of extremely limited
means at the time, he contributed with character-
istic liberality to the capital stock of the Ithaca
Falls Woolen Company, and was largely influen-
tial in securing the necessary capital for the estab-
lishment of that important enterprise. That the
company ended its career in insolvency after sev-
eral years of languishing business, was due to the
eccentricities of its administration, with which Mr.
Cornell was in no way connected, and for which
he was in no wise responsible.

The project for the connection of Cayuga Lake
with Lake Ontario by a ship canal, in order to
place Ithaca in direct navigable communication
with the great lakes of the northwest, was a fav-
orite subject of Mr. Cornell's advocacy. He de-
voted much attention and effort in this direction
prior to 1840, and again renewed attention to the
subject during his service in the Legislature,
where he introduced a bill to promote the enter-
prise. The topographical features of the section of
country between the two lakes were extremely fa-
vorable to the economical construction of the pro-

LOCAL ENTERPRISE. 243

posed work, and there can be no doubt that its
construction would have concentrated at Ithaca
commercial activities and manufactures of great
importance. Mr. Cornell was greatly impressed
with the possibilities which might follow the suc-
cessful inauguration of this proposed improve-
ment.

As early as 1846, Ithaca was placed in instanta-
neous communication with the principal cities of
the country, by the construction of a line of tele-
graph to Auburn, which was done almost wholly
at the expense of Mr. Cornell. He also made ear-
nest efforts to induce his neighbors and friends
to participate in the advantageous opportunities
which this novel enterprise at that day offered.
Unfortunately, however, they were discouraged by
the disappointment which awaited their small in-
vestments in the New York & Erie Telegraph
Company, and they could not be induced to take
further risks. Could they have been enabled to
comprehend the cause of that disappointment, and
continue their ventures in the subsequent op-
portunities which were offered to them, some of
the many millions realized as profits on the in-
vestments of citizens of Rochester and Utica,
might have been brought to Ithaca in addition to
the realizations of the pioneer. In the early days
of the telegraph development, a large number of

244 EZRA CORNELL.

young men of Tompkins County entered into
that service by the assistance of Mr. Cornell,
many of whom have, in consequence of the oppor-
tunities thus secured, become men of large wealth
and influence. They have, however, almost uni-
formly failed to return to their early homes, hav-
ing permanently settled in other localities.

The establishment of the manufacture of glass
at Ithaca must be credited to the sagacious fore-
thought and the persistent efforts, as well as the
generous encouragement, of Mr. Cornell. The
remarkable prosperity which now attends the de-
velopment of that important industry by the ex-
tensive works now in operation in the village, is a
marked vindication of the wisdom of his judgment
in this respect. It is an especially gratifying feature
that the quality of glass produced at Ithaca, is
much superior to other glass of American manu-
facture, and that it commands a higher price in the
market. This important fact is attributed to the
peculiar influence of the movements of the air-cur-
rents in giving a strong and steady natural draft
in the furnaces. It is supposed that this particu-
lar effect is produced in consequence of the loca-
tion of the works at a point between the lake
and the great ravines, which have been cut in the
faces of the surrounding hills by the flow of the
large streams of water seeking the level of Ca-

GLASS WORKS. 245

yuga Lake. If this shall become an established
fact as it is now a generally accepted theory, there
can be little doubt that Ithaca will become at no dis-
tant period a still more important seat for the
production of this valuable staple.

It was a favorite idea with Mr. Cornell that the
manufacture of iron could be located at Ithaca
with great advantage. He made careful investi-
gation of this subject, and satisfied himself that
the necessary ingredients for the production of a
superior quality of iron could be more economi-
cally and advantageously brought together at this
point than at any other locality. Based upon this
investigation, he subscribed a large sum toward
the organization of a company for this purpose,
and at his solicitation the requisite amount of
capital was provided ; but the enterprise was finally
abandoned after having broken ground for the
erection of works, on account of the depressed
condition of the iron industry, consequent upon
the financial disturbances of 1873.

The Ithaca Savings Bank, which has become
one of the most prosperous financial institutions
in that section of the State, owes its organization
to the wise conception and urgent endeavor of
Mr. Cornell. Its charter was enacted under his
procurement as a member of the Legislature,
and the eminent degree of success which has at-

'6'

246 EZRA CORNELL.

tended its management, has been due in no slight
measure to the confidence inspired by his accep-
tance of the presidency of the institution in its
initiatory stage. He was impressed with the be-
lief that a highly beneficial influence would follow
the substantial establishment of a sound and well-
managed institution of this character, in promoting
habits of increased frugality among the industrial
classes of the community. The accumulation of
more than half a million of dollars in the custody
of this organization, in the few years of its exis-
tence, attests not only the wisdom of the project,
but also the confidence which its administration
has inspired. Mr. Cornell took great pride in the
development of the institution, and continued to
serve as its presiding officer until the close of his
life. He was also one of the originators of the
First National Bank of Ithaca, of which he was a
director for ten years. The marked success of
this organization is highly creditable to the man-
agement which has so advantageously directed its
affairs.

The advancement of Ithaca, from the condition
of a finished, and indeed superannuated, country
village, into a thrifty and ambitious town, with
every reasonable promise of becoming at no dis-
tant period a city of growing importance, was due,
unquestionably, to the successful efforts of Mr.

PUBLIC BENEFITS. 247

Cornell in the projection and development of the
great University, and in the completion of the ad-
mirable system of railway facilities which cost him
so dearly. He took a deep interest and was a
leading- spirit in every project for the advance-
ment and improvement of the village, not only in
its material, but as well in its moral progress.
For the erection of churches of all denominations
he was ever an open-handed contributor, and it is
quite safe to assert that every place of worship in
the village was indebted to him for benefactions
of greater or less degree. There is not a village
lot in Ithaca which does not bear an increased
value, and in many instances doubled and even
quadrupled value, in consequence of the philan-
thropic and unselfish efforts of Ezra Cornell. May
the residents of the beautiful and prosperous town
long remember the debt of gratitude which they
owe to his memory.

Without some little reflection it is impossible
to appreciate with much intelligence the magni-
tude of advantage which the people of Ithaca en-
joy in a business way, from the location in their
midst of an institution like the Cornell University.
In the first place, it now has a fixed annual in-
come of more than two hundred thousand dollars,
nearly all of which must be disbursed for its cur-
rent working expenses in the immediate vicinity.

248 EZRA CORNELL.

Next, it brings from a wide expanse of territory
more than four hundred students, who spend nine
months of each year at Ithaca. Assuming that
they expend only the small sum of two hundred
and fifty dollars each for their maintenance, it will
amount to one hundred thousand dollars, which,
added to the University expenditures, aggregate
nearly one thousand dollars contributed to the
material interests of Ithaca every business day of
the year from these sources alone. Then there
must be credited a very considerable sum expended
by the thousands of visitors who are every year
brought to the village by the University. Added
to these advantages are many residents, who have
been, and are continually being induced to locate
at Ithaca, on account of its superior educational
opportunities. The extensive and growing manu-
factures of the village, also, find many advanta-
geous circumstances for the introduction and sale
of their products, growing out of the good fame
attaching to the name of Ithaca as the seat of a
great University.

Another subject of local significance for which
Mr. Cornell evinced an especial interest and made
liberal contributions to render more accessible, was
the romantic, and indeed extraordinary, natural
scenery of the region about Ithaca, which he felt
was worthy of attracting a large concourse of

ROMANTIC SCENERY. 249

summer tourists. Clustered within two or three
miles of the village, on the half-dozen considerable
streams which pour their water over the rocky
and precipitous hill-sides, on their way to the
level of the beautiful Cayuga Lake, are nearly
one hundred waterfalls of such magnitude as to
be worthy of especial notice. Some of these
cataracts and cascades are wonderfully interest-
ing. The Fall Creek gorge, within a few rods
of the University campus, affords a day's stroll
of thrilling interest and excitement. Taghanic
Falls, throwing an unbroken stream two hundred
and fifteen feet, is the highest waterfall in any of
the Northern States east of the Rocky Moun-
tains. Taken altogether for extent and variety
of scenery, this region has few rivals in the United
States, while numerous other localities, with com-
paratively nothing like the attractions of Ithaca,
enjoy a patronage from tourists, many fold greater.
With the added advantages of the extensive build-
ings, museums, and library of the Cornell Uni-
versity, the repute of this neighborhood should be
infinitely greater than it now enjoys.

Nor was Ithaca alone the beneficiary of Mr.
Cornell's enterprising public spirit. His activity
was ceaseless, and he never tired in the promo-
tion of meritorious projects. The wonderful de-
velopment which has in late years been made in

250 EZRA CORNELL.

producing illustrated publications, is due in no
small degree to results following the establish-
ment of the American Photo-Lithograph Com-
pany, of which Mr. Cornell was a large stock-
holder and for many years held the office of
president. The great advance which was made
by this organization in the art of lithography, by
combining with it the use of photography, has
completely revolutionized this important and use-
ful branch of illustrative publication. Through
the inadequacy of the patent laws to protect in-
ventors in the enjoyment of the fruits of their la-
bors, Mr. Cornell failed to realize profit from his
ventures in this direction, but the benefits accru-
ing to the public, as the result of the efforts of
the organization, which was effected under his pat-
ronage, cannot be estimated. They are indeed
inestimable, and are of constantly increasing value.
Mr. Cornell was extensively interested in the
manufacture of agricultural implements at Albany,
and was also the patron, promoter, and proprietor
of a variety of meritorious enterprises, not only in
the State of New York, but likewise in Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Colorado, and other
States.

CHAPTER XX.

FAMILY AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

Reserved Manners. — Filial Affection. — Self-reliance. — Devotion
to Parents. — Great Bereavement. — Fraternal Generosity. —
Domestic Relations. — Family Discipline. — Education of Chil-
dren.— Interest in Distant Relations. — Genealogical Labors.
— Loyalty to Old Friends. — New Family Residence. — " Villa
Cornell." — Elegance of Construction. — " True and Firm."

HABITUALLY reserved in manner, with a preva-
lent appearance of mental preoccupation, having
but slight inclination to the usual modes of recre-
ation, there was little in the ordinary intercourse of
Mr. Cornell to denote the depth of earnest affec-
tion with which he was in a large degree endowed.
While remarkably exempt from impulsive or emo-
tional tendencies, he was peculiarly devoted in
attachment to his kindred. Despite a quiet and
undemonstrative nature, there was in his organi-
zation a development of filial and fraternal love
which was apparently inexhaustible. This ad-
mirable trait of his character grew stronger and
became more marked with advancing years, and
was altogether a charming feature of his life. The

252 EZRA CORNELL.

uniformly cheerful obedience of his youth, and
the respectful and affectionate bearing of his sub-
sequent years, were frequently the subjects of
grateful commendation on the part of his vener-
able parents ; while his tender solicitude for their
welfare and his delicate attention to the comfort
of their declining age were characteristic of him
and most interesting to observe.

Ambitious of securing for himself an independ-
ent and self-reliant maintenance, while yet but
eighteen years of age, Mr. Cornell voluntarily de-
parted from the paternal roof in quest of employ-
ment. Successful in his purpose of self-support,
he thenceforth returned to the family home only in
the capacity of an occasional, but ever welcome,
visitor. At the period of his leaving the home of
his youth, his parents were just in the mature
prime of life, surrounded by a bevy of young chil-
dren ; but as the years rolled by in constant succes-
sion, one child after another reached the age of
independence and sallied forth into the great
world, each thus leaving a vacant chair at the
family board. Occasionally returning in defer-
ence to the promptings of filial devotion, he could
not fail to be impressed with the advancing age
of the parents, and the depleted household, con-
tinually increasing in loneliness with the departure
of each succeeding child. Though this touching

FILIAL DEVOTION. 253

feature of domestic life is but the repetition of or-
dinary family experience, it cannot fail to revive
tender memories in the hearts of all, who observe
and reflect upon the changes which are constantly
attending us here.

Animated by an intense desire to render more
cheerful the lonely pathway of his aged parents,
and to make good so far as possible his own
departure from the family circle, Mr. Cornell
appealed to them to change their location to the
vicinity of his home. Conforming to his solicita-
tion, the family in 1841 abandoned their residence
in De Ruyter, and accepted a home at Ithaca
provided for them by their eldest son in his own
immediate neighborhood. Several of their other
children had also previously established them-
selves at Itftaca and in that vicinity, so that at the
time of their removal, it was a most eligible and
convenient situation for them on this account.
Here they continued to reside, for a period of
about fifteen years, in the calm enjoyment of
serene old age, surrounded by the children of
their love, from whom they received the most
tender and respectful attention. Their greatest
privation, and one which they greatly missed and
regretted, was their church association, from
which they were so distantly separated.

During much of the time of the residence of

254 EZRA CORNELL.

his parents at Ithaca, Mr. Cornell was necessarily
away from home in the pursuit of his telegraph
engagements, but when thus absent, he was a
faithful correspondent, and always upon his return
home, he took early and frequent occasion to pay
respectful devotion to them, and evinced in many
ways the depth of his abiding affection for them.
The final location of several of their daughters
near together in the State of Michigan, naturally
created a desire on the part of the parents to re-
side near them. Though reluctant to have them
leave his neighborhood, he recognized the rea-
sonableness of their wish to be near his sisters ;
he personally attended them on their journey, and
arranged for their comfortable establishment in
their new home. His mother, however, did not
long survive this change of residence, as she was
suddenly called to her final rest in the spring of
1857, at the age of seventy. This bereavement
was sadly distressing to Mr. Cornell, whose affec-
tion for his mother was entwined in every fibre of
his nature. Notwithstanding his apparently com-
posed demeanor, those familiar with him could not
fail to observe the intense suffering which this
irreparable affliction caused him. Mr. Cornell's
father subsequently returned to Ithaca, and spent
a considerable time as a member of his family,
but finally returned to Michigan, where he was

FRATERNAL SPIRIT. 2$$

domiciled with one of his daughters. Here his
long- life was brought to a tranquil ending from
the effects of old age, having attained the re-
markable measure of ninety-one years.

If the evidences of Mr. Cornell's sincere and
devoted affection for his parents were unusual,
and the subject of particular observation, his fra-
ternal relations were none the less so. Through
all of his life his bearing toward his brothers and
sisters partook much of the peculiarities noted
with reference to his parental devotion, ever
seeking when opportunity offered to render them
some useful or valuable service. When separated
from them by distant residence, he was assiduous
in the duty of correspondence, and whenever
chance brought him within the vicinity of their
residences he was accustomed to visit them.
Each and every one of his brothers and sisters,
was in some form, to greater or less extent, as
circumstances and necessities dictated, the recip-
ients of his favor, and realized in some measure
the benefits of his material prosperity.

In the relation of husband Mr. Cornell was in
all respects worthy of the highest commendation.
Faithful in observing the duties imposed by wed-
ded vows, respectfully considerate of the feelings
and wishes of his life partner, tenderly devoted
to her in affection, patient and forbearing under

256 EZRA CORNELL.

all circumstances, abstemious in habits, circum-
spect in conduct and unimpeachable in all the
ways of life, his married life was one continual
source of satisfaction. Assuming the responsi-
bilities of matrimony at the age of twenty-four,
though in extremely modest financial circum-
stances, he was enabled to provide a home which
was the abode of happiness, refinement, and con-
tentment ; in which his nine children were born,
and from which four of them were buried. Ten
years of domestic tranquillity were marked by the
loss of accustomed employment, incident to the
change of the business in which he had been en-
gaged. Failing to secure occupation near home,
he was forced to seek it abroad. Circumstances,
elsewhere related in detail, connected him with
the development of the electric telegraph, and in
the prosecution of this business he was for a dozen
years necessarily much absent from home. The
entire discipline of the children was thus left to
the judicious discretion of their mother, who per-
formed her duty with painstaking fidelity. He
was an industrious and prolific correspondent, and
the home which was so much of the time lonely
because of his absence, was brightened by the
arrival of frequent and always interesting letters,
which were sure to break the tedium of each
week.

DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

In the later years of Mr. Cornell's telegraph
service, when the children required less exacting
attention from their mother, she frequently ac-
companied him on his journeys, especially at such
times as he would be likely to remain long in any
particular neighborhood. As they advanced in
years, and home cares were still more relaxed, they
travelled much together, and it was his delight al-
ways to be accompanied by her, as if to make
amends for the years of absence which the exigen-
cies of business requirements had rendered neces-
sary. Thus they journeyed together to Europe,
and in many trips undertaken for pleasure through
the Canadian provinces, and the eastern and south-
ern as well as many of the far western States.
In all of his legislative career Mrs. Cornell was
his constant companion, and for the last two years
in the Senate, they maintained an independent
household in Albany ; and they were the recip-
ients of many social attentions from the leading
families of the capital city.

In personal intercourse with his children Mr.
Cornell was affectionate and considerate, and in
return was loved and respected by them in more
than an ordinary degree. If he was firm in en-
forcing his authority in opposition to the desires
of a child, it was in such manner as to avoid any
appearance of harshness. He was especially am-
17

258 EZRA CORNELL.

bitious for the thorough education of his children,
in which he was to a considerable degree disap-
pointed, more especially with his sons. This was
owing, probably, to the fact that his absence from
home so much of the time, during the years of
their school attendance, prevented the necessary
control of their movements in this regard. While
their mother exerted every possible effort to keep
them in school, and their minds absorbed in study,
the establishment in Ithaca of a telegraph office
proved too great an attraction for the older son,
who at the age of fourteen had acquired the art
of telegraphy without the knowledge of his par-
ents. Between the attractions of a telegraph
office and those of an academy for a boy at the
witching age of fourteen, it may be safely calcu-
lated that the former will carry the palm three
times out of four, and thus it was in this case.
This defection of the older son from school life
proved demoralizing upon the younger brothers,
and although they were kept in school as long as
possible, the second son completed only a portion
of his academical education, while the younger
one finished his preparatory studies, and devoted
two years to a University course. With the
daughters there were no such counter-attractions,
and they more kindly followed and availed them-
selves of the educational facilities which were

CORDIAL SUPPORT. 2 59

placed at their disposal, having both been educa-
ted at the Vassar Female College.

In both the projection and development of his
plans for the establishment, first of the Cornell
Library, and afterward of the Cornell University,
Mr. 'Cornell had in every particular the cordial
co-operation of his wife and children. They re-
alized that his great fortune had come to him
as the result of his own exertions and privations,
and they did not desire to interfere with such dis-
position of it as should best gratify him. No word
of objection or disapproval was ever expressed
by the members of his family in reference to any
of the schemes of benefaction which he entered
into. They saw him dispersing with lavish hand
the princely inheritance which, but for his philan-
thropic plans, might have enriched them ; but
they uttered no complaint nor gave expression to
feelings of dissatisfaction.

In the several relations of domestic life, it can-
not be denied that Mr. Cornell was in many re-
spects a person of marked and impressive indi-
viduality. Far beyond the commonalty of men,
he was a loving, dutiful son, considerate of the
pleasure of his parents, the pride and hope of
their earlier years, the prudent counsellor of mid-
dle life, and the ever faithful comforter of their
declining age. To all of his numerous broth-

260 EZRA CORNELL.

ers and sisters he was ever the cheering, helpful,
and generous brother, always quite willing to aid
in promoting their interests, and not infrequently
at the expense of his own. As a husband, he
was affectionate, considerate, and faithful, with a
strict and delicate sense of the obligations which
the marriage vows imposed on him ; while in the
parental relation he was always impartial, requir-
ing obedience as necessary to wholesome dis-
cipline, and animated with commendable ambition
that his children might attain by good conduct
respected standing in community.

Tender and devoted as was his affection for
those with whom he was connected by the nearer
ties of kinship, it by no means limited the interest
of Mr. Cornell in the more distant lines of con-
sanguinity. With him persons of any degree of
blood relationship were certain to find cordial
welcome. He was greatly interested and devoted
much personal effort to the investigation and per-
fection of his genealogical record. For many
years, and amid other laborious occupations of
absorbing interest, he conducted a voluminous
correspondence for the purpose of extending and
completing this work. Especially was he inter-
ested in the name of CORNELL, and he spared no
reasonable effort to trace out and identify the
pedigree of each person bearing it, to determine

GENEALOGY. 261

whether any direct relationship could be estab-
lished, however distant in degree. Genealogi-
cal investigation was a work which possessed
peculiar attraction for him, and increased in in-
terest as the weight of years rested upon him.
He had accumulated a vast mass of information
bearing on this subject, which, owing to the en-
grossing labors of his later years, was left by
him in an unfinished condition. It is, therefore,
to be hoped that some of his descendants may in
the future feel disposed to take up and complete
this work which so greatly interested him.

With all ot his affectionate regard for his fam-
ily relatives, Mr. Cornell always had a warm place
in his heart for the old friends and neighbors of
his family whom he had known in early years.
Whenever opportunity permitted, he took great
delight in visiting the localities where his parents
had formerly resided, and looking up the old
friends with whom they had been familiar. Neither
age nor condition in life was a bar to his interest
in their welfare and prosperity, and if it so hap-
pened that fortune had changed to their preju-
dice, they had no cause to regret the continued
acquaintance of the son of their old friends ; while
it sometimes happened that circumstances per-
mitted him to do something to smooth the path of
those who had fallen into distress. So, too, the

262 EZRA CORNELL.

friends of his own humble early life were never
changed in his regard, by the great prosperity
which came to him. Once a friend always a
friend was his rule, unless sundered by some
unworthy act.

Necessary absence from home a considerable
portion of the time for several years, in the pro-
jection and management of his telegraph interests,
naturally made Mr. Cornell appreciate all the
more, when permitted to enjoy, the comforts and
pleasures of home. It was no cause of surprise,
therefore, that with his exceptional prosperity
came the ambition to build a dwelling which
should be an ornament to the locality. Having
procured the necessary plans, he began, in 1868,
the erection of a tasteful and elegant gothic villa
of stone, which was designed as a permanent res-
idence for his family. Several expert carvers in
stone were imported directly from Europe, and
employed on the work. " TRUE AND FIRM,"-
the motto which surmounts the principal entrance
—is indeed characteristic of the building in all of its
details. The elaborate design of architecture and
the elegance of the interior finish, necessarily
made the process of construction extremely slow.
Nearly eight years were consumed in building the
house, which was not entirely finished until about
a year after the death of its projector.

VILLA CORNELL, 263

This unique and beautiful edifice, which is the
admiration of all who have the opportunity of
viewing it, has been, since the spring of 1876, the
home of Mrs. Cornell, with whom her two
daughters have resided. There are certainly but
few residences in the State, outside of the great
metropolis, which can compare with " Villa Cor-
nell " in beauty of design or perfection of work-
manship. The house, completed and ready for
occupancy, cost about one hundred thousand dol-
lars, exclusive of the value of the plot of nine
acres on which it is located. The place is charm-
ingly situated on the eastern bluff, overlooking
the village of Ithaca and the ever beautiful Ca-
yuga Lake. It commands an extended and su-
perb view of the surrounding country, which,
from this particular spot, presents a diversity of
scenery rarely observed. Just out of the village,
and yet within a short walk of the business cen-
tre, it is thus sufficiently retired to avoid the dust
and noise of the town, and still within convenient
distance of all of its variety of privileges. A little
farther up the hill and within half a mile, is the
Campus of the University, with its grand collec-
tion of buildings, always a favorite and accessible
resort for recreation or diversion.

CHAPTER XXI.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. — RELIGIOUS CHAR-
ACTER.

Individuality. — Truth and Frankness. — Nervous Energy. — Untir-
ing Industry. — Manual Labor. — Pedestrianism. — Persever-
ance.— Patience. — Mental Equipment. — Courage. — Independ-
ence.— Integrity. — Perfect Development. — Personal Ap-
pearance.— Unassuming Manners. — Private Benefactions. —
Religious Character. — Friends Discipline.

HOWEVER faithful or impartial the effort, intelli-
gent and appreciative delineation of the personal
characteristics and peculiarities of an individual is
not an easy performance under any circumstances.
When such an undertaking relates to a person
endowed with numerous phases of character un-
usual, and in many respects extraordinary in
their qualities when compared with those of or-
dinary development, the difficulty of the task is
materially enhanced. To render justice to the
character under consideration, and present a re-
view acceptable without reserve to those unac-
quainted with his striking individuality, seem
quite impossible. In a variety of ways, the per-

INDUSTRY. 265

sonality of Mr. Cornell embraced features of re-
markable vigor and the peculiarities of his char-
acter in many particulars illustrated his Quaker
origin. From his parents he inherited a combi-
nation of characteristics which were especially
marked and easy of recognition by those familiar
with him, prominent among which were frankness,
truth, and sincerity. These qualities with him
were cardinal virtues, and just in proportion as
he valued them, did he despise hypocrisy, pre-
tence, and deception.

Eminently self-contained and exempt from emo-
tion, there was yet in Mr. Cornell's organization
an element of nervous energy which demanded
constant occupation as a requisite for the enjoy-
ment of personal comfort. He was never so un-
happy as when, by circumstances beyond control,
he was the victim of enforced idleness. With him
it could be truthfully said, industry knew no limit.
Work, either mental or physical, was his normal
condition. Strong and vigorous in muscular de-
velopment, manual labor was to him a source of
positive enjoyment. This was particularly dem-
onstrated by his fondness for walking, which was
ever with him a favorite mode of travel. In this
manner he performed a journey of fifteen hundred
miles, in 1842, through the Southern Atlantic
States, often making forty miles per day. He

266 EZRA CORNELL.

frequently described this experience as one of the
most interesting episodes in his varied career.
When physical activity was not available for him,
mental labor was its fixed alternative. Reading,
writing, study, and investigation fully occupied his
waking hours which were not devoted to other
activities. He was a prolific letter writer, and oc-
cupied much leisure time in the conduct of a large
personal correspondence. In foreign travel he
was accustomed, for want of other occupation, to
write letters for publication to the Ithaca papers,
descriptive of the scenes and incidents of his jour-
neyings.

Perseverance is a valuable quality just in the
degree that it is directed by intelligent judgment
and wise discretion. Without proper safeguards
this commendable qualification may, indeed, be-
come an engine of waste and destruction. With
the subject of present consideration, probably no
single personal characteristic proved so advan-
tageous as that of persistence, or determination.
The great business success achieved by Mr. Cor-
nell was due, not only to the correct judgment
which directed his original venture, but in far
greater degree to the sturdiness and steadfast
energy with which he pursued his chosen purpose,
and forced a successful issue through manifold
and long-continued embarrassments.

PATIENCE. 267

Nothing could better illustrate the unyielding
firmness of his character than the patient and un-
faltering determination with which he sustained
himself in his various telegraph enterprises in the
face of impediments which to others seemed ab-
solutely insurmountable. Once he decided upon
a line of policy to be pursued, obstacles which
would completely discourage ordinary men were
brushed aside by him as the merest incidents,
while he followed the object of his judgment with
all of the untiring vigor of his mental and physical
organization. Thus, faith whrch was unwavering,
and energy which never faltered, were finally re-
warded by success almost beyond the possibility
of belief.

Ability to await with patience the available op-
portunity when a desired object may be most ad-
vantageously accomplished, is a gift with which few
are favored. While persistent energy will often
achieve great results, it not unfrequently happens
that the capacity for " making haste slowly" is a
quality of the highest rank. Far beyond the or-
dinary range of men Mr. Cornell was endowed
with patience, which was a direct inheritance from
his mother, in whom this beautiful trait was espe-
cially developed. With her patience was a virtue
which adorned and illumined with its gentle influ-
ence an amiable and lovely character, while with

268 EZRA CORNELL.

him, in the sterner walks of life, it was the strong
lever with which he was frequently enabled to
successfully remove obstacles which could not be
overcome by the use of positive force. He was
possessed of this extremely valuable qualification
in an eminent degree, and it was an exceedingly
potent factor in his mental equipment. This rare
gift, often controlling with wise intuition the forci-
ble energies of his nature, was the true secret of
much of his exceptional success in life.

The predominant, and especially characteristic
features of Mr. Cornell's mental endowment con-
sisted of vigorous and original practical intelli-
gence, acuteness of perception, resolute self-reli-
ance, calm and even temperament, independent
judgment, and positive convictions. With a su-
perior mind, endowed in marked degree with
sound common sense, supplemented by habits of
careful observation and reflection, he was remark-
able for the maturity and accuracy of his judg-
ment on questions of practical utility. Despite
the meagre facilities for education which he was
permitted to enjoy in early life, few persons were
better informed on all general subjects than he
was. His studious habits, and peculiar faculty
for improvement, enabled him to acquire a degree
of cultivation which made him in the maturity of
his manhood the welcome associate of the most

FIRMNESS. 269

distinguished scholars in the country. The ex-
tent and diversity of his mental acquirements
were often the subject of surprise and admira-
tion to those aware of his limited advantages in
early life. Doubtless the broad and liberal cul-
ture which he thus acquired, exerted potent in-
fluence in giving his public benefactions the use-
ful direction which so greatly distinguished them.
The originality and independence of Mr. Cor-
nell's nature rendered him peculiarly adventurous
and enterprising in disposition. He was wholly
fearless in any venture which secured his confi-
dence or enlisted his sympathies, and the immi-
nence of danger only served to arouse his cour-
age and engage his energies. With a peculiar
modesty and gentleness of disposition, he was
slow to controversy, but stern and unyielding in
a contest forced upon him, especially where the
issue involved the defence of unquestioned rights
or the maintenance of vital principles. His integ-
rity was unimpeachable, and was never brought
in question except through the mouths of vile and
wicked slanderers, who hoped by the utterance of
falsehood to injure him and diminish his ability to
serve the great cause in which he was so thor-
oughly enlisted, and to which he contributed so
much of material aid and valuable personal ser-
vice. In fidelity he was true as the needle to the

2/0 EZRA CORNELL.

pole, to whatever cause he was committed. If the
object was worthy of real and earnest support, no
divided or half-hearted allegiance satisfied him.

o

With him whatever was worth doing at all was
worthy of all requisite effort for its complete suc-
cess.

Perfect manhood depends not so much on the
abnormal illustration of some particular talent,
however admirable in itself, as upon the harmoni-
ous development of the more important traits of
ordinary personal character. Genius, which may
command the admiration of the world, is not in-
frequently marred by combination with inexcus-
able defects. Considering all features of Mr.
Cornell's especial individuality, as recognized by
those familiar with the details of his career, the
general verdict of impartial observers could not
fail to credit him with marked superiority in the
complete development of the qualities which
adorn human character. Without pretence to
any especially attractive or brilliant talent, with
no attributes of genius, he was eminently prac-
tical in natural ability and acquired attainments.
Untiring devotion to useful pursuits, guided by su-
perior intelligence and perfect integrity, enabled
him to achieve great results in business enter-
prises, and in the splendid munificence of his pub-
lic benefactions.

PERSONALITY.

There was a natural dignity, and manliness of
bearing, which, in any presence, could not fail to
identify Mr. Cornell as an individual of superior
instincts and exceptional personality. Standing
about six feet in height in the maturity of physi-
cal development, he acquired in later years a
habit of stooping forward — more commonly de-
scribed as round-shouldered — which detracted
somewhat from the commanding appearance of
his earlier life. His ordinary weight was about
one hundred and eighty pounds. His features
were rugged and strongly marked with prom-
inent cheek-bones. When in repose there was
an apparent hardness of expression, which quickly
melted into a winning and attractive smile upon a
friendly approach. Though habitually reticent
in speech and ordinarily reserved in manner, he
was of a peculiarly cheerful disposition, and when
engaged in social discourse was a most agreeable
and instructive companion. In conversation which
interested him he was animated, while, as a friend-
ly disputant in the discussion of a definite sub-
ject, he was accustomed to maintain an argument
with fervor and effectiveness. Temperate in his
usual habit, almost to total abstinence, moderation
and sobriety were the inflexible rules of his life.
His tastes were simple, and his personal expenses
inconsiderable. Economical in useless expendi-

2/2 EZRA CORNELL.

tures, his generous liberality found expression in
what he considered ways of practical usefulness.

Naturally unassuming in manner and personal
bearing, with a friendly but undemonstrative cor-
diality which was especially characteristic of his
Quaker descent, there was a quiet self-possessed
dignity in Mr. Cornell's ordinary demeanor, which
was well calculated to put strangers quite at ease
in approaching him. The modest, unaffected sim-
plicity of character which was particularly notice-
able in him, continued without change through

O O

all of the evolutions and vicissitudes of his extra-
ordinary career. The unpretending, laborious
mechanic, striving to establish himself in a new
community, was the same self-possessed and un-
ostentatious individual, as the opulent millionaire,
whose munificent liberality had rendered his name
familiar to the entire civilized world. The gener-
ous patron of higher education, laboring to de-
velop and render available the inherent value of
the Land Grant, was the same earnest, hard
working man, as the enterprising telegraph pion-
eer devoting all of the energies of his vigorous
personality to the pursuit of successful fortune.
Neither prosperity, nor the exacting cares of ad-
vancing years, effected any visible change in the
cordiality with which he was accustomed to meet
the humble associates of early life.

SIMPLICITY. 273

Pertinent and very convincing evidence of the
impression made upon the students of the Uni-
versity by the simple, unpretending appearance
of the honored Founder, was recently given by
an intelligent and observing member of an early
class, who has since achieved enviable distinc-
tion in one of the chief cities of the State. The
occasion of his remarks was the annual social
gathering of an alumni association, when reminis-
cences of college life were the subject of comment.
Speaking of the crude condition and unfinished
appearance of the University establishment in
its early years, and the disposition of many stu-
dents to find fault therewith, he said, lt Nothing
quieted the discontent so effectively as the ear-
nest and devoted labors of Mr. Cornell in striving
to push the unfinished buildings and grounds to
completion, and to remove every just cause of
complaint. Many of us had never seen a million-
aire before, and when we saw him in modest garb,
giving attention to our comfort and contentment
with the simplicity of an ordinary man, we were
filled with amazement." He also attributed much
of the spirit and success of the early graduates of
the University to the wholesome influence of this
very impressive example.

The very magnitude of his public contributions
tends to obscure, and by comparison to dwarf, the

18

2/4 EZRA CORNELL.

private benefactions which Mr. Cornell was con-
stantly bestowing in response to innumerable ap-
peals to his unfailing generosity. The story of
misfortune was sure to find a sympathetic listener
in him, and to secure prompt and practical assis-
tance at his hands. He delighted especially in
helping those who were striving to help them-
selves, and a long list could be given of those
whose success in life was due to his kindly pat-
ronage and encouragement. Nor would the list
be complete, without embracing the names of
several individuals, who have become millionaires
from the initiatory aid rendered them by Mr. Cor-
nell. The poor boy ambitious of acquiring a lib-
eral education, but without means to gratify his
worthy aspiration, never appealed to him in vain.
As a general rule, this class of beneficiaries re-
warded their patron and his memory with grateful
appreciation of his timely assistance. Due regard
for the truth of history, however, compels the
statement, discreditable as it must appear to every
instinct of manhood, that this result did not in
every instance follow his generous patronage. A
single exception, however, perfidious though it
may seem, is perhaps valuable in demonstrating the
general uniformity of the prevailing appreciation.
In the usual intercourse of every-day life, Mr.
Cornell was reserved in expression far beyond the

THE GOLDEN RULE. 2/5

ordinary range of individuals. This was caused
by neither austerity nor the lack of a genial
disposition, but was the result of his peculiar or-
ganization. He was more of a thinker than a
talker. Naturally a man of few words, as he
matured in years this tendency was increased in
consequence of his habitual mental occupation.
While this was his custom in reference to matters
of worldly interest, it was still more so in regard
to spiritual affairs. This habitual reticence can-
not, however, be interpreted as an evidence of his
indifference as to religious questions. On the
contrary, there were many indications that he was
a person of more than ordinary religious feeling.
Though these were incidental in character, they
were sufficient to demonstrate beyond question
the nature of the impulses which prompted them.
He was frequently accustomed to quote in rever-
ent manner, expressions from the Great Book of
Life, which indicated much familiarity with its con-
tents. To him the word of God was indeed a
higher law, which he believed, if faithfully accepted
and relied upon, would shield the humble follower
of the cross from all harm. " Do unto others as
ye would that they do unto you," was with him
a favorite maxim, and observed with great fidelity.
Although there is probably no existing means
of demonstrating the fact, there can be little if any

2/6 EZRA CORNELL.

reasonable doubt, that the action of the Friends'
Society at De Ruyter, in expelling Mr. Cornell
from membership therein as a penalty for marry-
ing out of the Church, exerted a continued in-
fluence over him through all of his subsequent
life. His distant residence, away from any soci-
ety of Friends, rendered it impossible for him to
contest the action of those who undertook to ad-
minister the discipline. He vigorously disputed
their right to take such action, but there was
no earthly tribunal available to take jurisdiction
of his appeal. His only practical remedy was
in direct, silent communion with his Heavenly
Father, and this mode of worship was ever after
the form which he observed. He held himself
aloof from connection with other churches, as an
evidence of his faithfulness to the form of worship
from which he felt that he had been unjustly and
wrongfully excluded. He refused to recognize the
right of any church organization to place them-
selves between him and the Divine Master, and
attempt to exclude him from the right of worship.
Beyond this he felt that the condition attached to
his expulsion, of reinstatement upon his rendering
an apology and expressing regret for his action,
was wholly inconsistent, to comply with which
would be to dishonor himself. He, therefore,
firmly and persistently refused.

CHAPTER XXII.

LAST ILLNESS.

Vigorous Constitution. — General Good Health. — Promised Lon-
gevity.— Fatal Exposure. — Sudden Attack of Pneumonia. —
Extreme Prostration. — Languishing Weakness. — Financial
Burdens. — Physicians plead for Exemption from Business
Cares. — Attempted Relief. — Menaced by Rigorous Weather.
— Relapse. — Final Rest.

WITH the inheritance of a superb constitution,
developed by vigorous, industrious habits, and
sustained by temperate practices, it was as a
general rule Mr. Cornell's good fortune, through
all of his life, to be favored with more than an or-
dinary degree of health and strength. Though in
a few instances subjected to brief illness, his recov-
ery was always prompt and complete. His father
lived to the good old age of more than ninety years,
in the enjoyment of excellent health, and blessed
by a kind Providence with the possession of un-
impaired faculties. With this remarkable longev-
ity as the basis of expectation, it was not strange
that the friends of Mr. Cornell fondly hoped for
the continuance of his useful, philanthropic life

278 EZRA CORNELL.

through many years of gently declining maturity,
that he might be permitted with them to enjoy the
development of the great work of higher educa-
tion which his generous beneficence had done so
much to establish and endow. This cherished
hope, however, was destined to suffer cruel dis-
appointment, for while still in the enjoyment of
apparent good health, and considerably within the
limit of three score and ten, he was suddenly
stricken with disease, which, after a languishing
sickness of six months' duration, closed his earthly
career, and plunged an entire community into the
depths of mourning.

The fatal illness sounded its first dreaded note
of alarm on the ninth day of June, 1874. On that
day, Mr. Cornell was prostrated by an attack of
pneumonia, of such severity as to confine him to
the bed. The disease was supposed to have been
the result of a severe cold, contracted by his un-
conscious exposure, while sleeping without ade-
quate protection, to an extraordinary change of
temperature, which occurred during the night, in
travelling by the Erie Railway from New York to
Elmira. Before the dangerous character of the
disease had made itself clearly apparent, it had
made serious progress in its course, and had be-
come thoroughly seated on the lungs. From the
very beginning, the skill of his medical attendants

PROSTRATION. 279

was completely baffled, and their efforts to check
the ravages of the malady were quite ineffectual.

The patient was extremely debilitated, and un-
able to leave his bed for several weeks. Slowly the
weeks succeeded each other, and lengthened into
months, and still the tiresome cough continued,
and the prostrating weakness remained, to hold
him a helpless prisoner writhin the house. Finally,
as the summer waned, a slightly improved con-
dition enabled him to visit New York and the sea
shore, with the hope that a change of air and sur-
roundings might prove beneficial. This, however,
turned out to be delusive, as no material improve-
ment was manifested in the appearance of his
symptoms, and he returned to his home at Ithaca,
after an absence of several weeks, in much the
same state of debility as before. If there was any
improvement, it was so slight as not to be appar-
ent to the kind friends who so fondly watched and
prayed for his recovery.

Earnestly, but in vain, did the medical attend-
ants demand the seclusion of their patient from
the pressing anxieties of business. This they de-
clared to be indispensable to recovery, and that
without this precaution their efforts in his behalf
must prove futile. Such a course seemed, how-
ever, quite impossible in consequence of the pecu-
liar circumstances which surrounded him. While

280 EZRA CORNELL.

he was relieved from every possible annoyance,
there were certain details of business which could
only be solved by Mr. Cornell's personal con-
sideration and direction. Even the attempt to
keep the less important matters from his atten-
tion, failed in great measure to accomplish the de-
sired result, as it was inevitably known to him
that many interests were suffering for his personal
supervision, and thus the exciting cause of ap-
prehension was ever present, and weighing on
his mind. As the autumn was approaching, it
became more than ever manifest that he could not
safely encounter the rigors of the coming winter,
and much consideration was given to the practi-
cability of his seeking a more genial climate for
the winter months. The emergencies of his bus-
iness affairs, however, forbade his absence from
the vicinity of his home, and hence the plan was
reluctantly abandoned.

Never before, perhaps, in the course of his en-
tire career, had there been a period when ability
to devote personal attention to business affairs
had been so necessary, and, indeed, so vital to
Mr. Cornell's material interests, as at the particu-
lar time of his sudden prostration. A peculiar
combination of circumstances seemed to desig-
nate it as the crisis of his notable career. The
self-assumed burdens of the land grant contract,

SEEKING RELIEF. 28 1

and the uncompleted railroads, were bearing their
cruel weights upon him, and he had need of every
facility and every faculty at his command. Con-
fronted by financial complications of great magni-
tude, at a period of serious monetary derangement,
the successful solution of his plans of operation,
depended, of course, largely on the stability of
his personal credit, already so seriously disturbed.
It can, therefore, easily be appreciated how ex-
tremely embarrassing must have been a severe
and long-continued illness under such circum-
stances. There can be no reasonable doubt that
the peculiar situation in which he was then placed,
contributed greatly to aggravate the malady under
which he was suffering, and to prevent the recov-
ery of strength which might otherwise have been
restored to him. The unavoidable mental depres-
sion incident to an occasion of such perilous anx-
iety, could not fail to produce that result.

Continued weakness and inability to resume
active personal attention to business, rendered im-
perative the necessity of relief from every burden
which could possibly be avoided. Yielding to
this necessity, Mr. Cornell was finally, but reluc-
tantly, induced to request the trustees of the Uni-
versity to assume the independent management of
the business under the land grant contract, and
thus relieve him from this great responsibility.

282 EZRA COKNELL.

This proposition was promptly and very commend-
ably accepted by the board, and, upon the ap-
proval of the Commissioners of the Land Office of
the State, the contract, together with all of the
business incident to it, was formally transferred to
the custody of the University authorities, in the
month of November. A contract was also con-
cluded about the same time, under which other
parties undertook to make arrangements for the
necessary funds for finishing the Utica, Ithaca, &
Elmira road, and connecting its hitherto separate
sections ready for complete operation, thus reliev-
ing Mr. Cornell from the necessity of making
further provision for this great work. Although
these arrangements were highly important in the
extent of relief which was thus afforded in a finan-
cial direction, he was still left with the care of the
Geneva road, which yet required a large invest-
ment to complete its adequate equipment, and to
successfully place it on a prosperous, self-sustain-
ing basis.

Despite the extraordinary business embarrass-
ments, incident to the wearisome months of con-
finement, there was throughout the entire course
of his prolonged, painful illness, an exhibition
of patient fortitude and Christian resignation on
the part of Mr. Cornell, which was indeed mar-
vellous. Calmly relying on the mercy of his Di-

FORTITUDE. 283

vine Master, he could await upon His appointed
time with perfect repose and hopeful confidence.
No word of complaint nor repining was heard to
escape his lips during all of the tiresome period
of his prostration. Devoutly anxious for recov-
ery, that he might be permitted to complete the
labors which interested him so deeply, there was
in the composition of his character, an indescribable
element of self-control, which enabled him to ex-
ercise patient forbearance even in the face of the
most depressing discouragement. Familiar to an
unusual degree with the conflicts of life, nothing
in all his past experience compared in magnitude
with these later tribulations.

True to the warnings of his physicians, the ap-
proach of winter weather proved too severe for
the weakened system of the now confirmed in-
valid. The painful cough, from which he had
never been relieved, increased in its severity, and
the general symptoms became more alarming.
The years of labor which Mr. Cornell had so gen-
erously devoted to the interests of the University
and of Ithaca, had exhausted too much of the vi-
tality of his naturally robust constitution, and the
powers of recuperation seemed wholly wanting.
Relief from a portion of business cares had come
too late to be of any practical benefit in the pro-
longation of his life. A slight cold, resulting

284 EZRA CORNELL.

from exposure at one of the meetings of the Uni-
versity trustees, aggravated the disease under
which he was suffering ; his cough increased, and
his strength gradually wasted, until, on the ninth
day of December, 1874, he was called to his final
rest, just six months from the commencement of
his illness. To the very end of his life did the
wonderful energy of his nature manifest itself. On
the last morning, with scarcely strength to stand,
he arose from his bed and was dressed, against
the protestations of his wife. He had in mind
some affairs of business, to which he desired to
give attention, and was thus occupied during a
portion of the morning. Overcome by weakness,
however, he was forced to seek his couch without
having fully completed his work, and the final end
was reached shortly after noon. He was at the
time of his death sixty-seven years, ten months,
and twenty-eight days of age, thus lacking more
than twenty-two years of reaching the age at-
tained by his father.

Thus, in the shadow of sore trials, and bitter
disappointments, closed the life of the generous-
hearted and enlightened philanthropist. Would
that his useful and laborious career could have
been ended, rather, in the mellow twilight of en-
deavors accomplished and conflicts ended. With
what supreme satisfaction he could have watched

FINAL REST. 285

the gradual but constant advancement of the Uni-
versity, toward that high standard which he had
so confidently fixed in his mind as its ultimate
achievement. Commencing life without the aid
of advantageous circumstances, with only such
moderate opportunities for early cultivation as were
available to the son of a pioneer farmer, unaided
and alone, Mr. Cornell, conquering adverse influ-
ences and conditions, achieved great fortune as
the recompense of intelligent, praiseworthy en-
terprise. Without ostentation, or pretentious dis-
play, he devoted with unexampled liberality the
abundant fruits of his eminent success to the in-
tellectual advancement of the coming generations
of mankind, with the modest spirit and grand
purpose of a true-hearted public benefactor.
The death of such a character, under any cir-
cumstances, could not fail to create an impressive
sensation. Under the extremely painful condi-
tions which attended the later months of Mr.
Cornell's life, there was much to arouse public
interest and enlist the earnest sympathies not
only of friends and neighbors, but as well of the
entire community.

Though by no means an unexpected occur-
rence, on account of the wide publicity which
had attended his prolonged illness, the announce-
ment of Mr. Cornell's lamented death was re-

286 EZRA CORNELL.

ceived with painful emotions and many striking
manifestations of grief, not only by the community
which claimed him as its especial possession, but
as well by a wide circle of sympathizing friends
throughout the State, and, indeed, in many por-
tions of the country at large.

This melancholy event was the occasion of
much sorrowful comment and unusual observation
at Ithaca, as well as in many other places in the
State. Expressions of sympathy and testimonials
of affectionate attachment were tendered from
every quarter. Formal tributes of respectful con-
sideration and appreciation were adopted by many
organizations with which the departed had been
associated in his life-time, and others with which
he had no direct connection. As an appropriate
conclusion of this simple record of the devoted
labors of this unselfish public benefactor, the final
chapters will be reserved for the presentation of
some of the many public tributes, and a some-
what detailed account of the funeral observances
in honor of his memory.

CHAPTER XXIII.

PUBLIC TRIBUTES.

General Sympathy. — Ithaca "Daily Journal." — Froude's Trib-
ute.— Formal Expressions. — Cornell University. — Cornell Li-
brary.— Western Union Telegraph Company. — Village Trus-
tees.— Students. — Ithaca Savings Bank. — Board of Education.
— Geneva, Ithaca & Athens Railroad. — Agricultural Society.
— Presbyterian Church. — Proclamation of Village President. —
Founder's Hymn.

CONSTANTLY advancing in their daily progress to-
ward the eternal world, men become accustomed
to the occurrence of death, and only the departure
of one held in extraordinary public estimation, will
cause an entire community to abandon their or-
dinary avocations, and stand by an open grave.
Beyond any precedent in the history of Ithaca, the
death of Mr. Cornell aroused a feeling of sym-
pathy, and brought forth an expression of the
sense of public loss which had been sustained. To
recall, with the full force of contemporaneous ob-
servation, the depth of public feeling which was
induced by the sad event, the following expres-
sions and reports of formal proceedings taken in
honor of his memory, are reproduced from the

288 EZRA CORNELL.

columns of the Ithaca Daily Journal, of the sev-
eral dates indicated :

DEATH OF EZRA CORNELL.
[From the Ithaca Daily Journal, December gth.}

Ezra Cornell is gone. His death occurred at twenty-five min-
utes past one o'clock this afternoon, after an illness of six months'
duration, at the age of sixty-seven years, ten months, and twenty-
eight days.

We can hardly realize the magnitude of the loss, not merely to
his family, but to this whole community. No citizen has ever left
us whose life was so interwoven with all that has created and as-
sured our prosperity.

A generous, large-hearted man ; utterly unselfish in every re-
spect ; ready to make almost any sacrifice to attain some great and
general good ; resolute in what he believed to be right and just ;
but yielding and sympathetic to every story of misfortune, and to
the sufferings and troubles of others ; far-seeing and sagacious,
but also hopeful and enthusiastic in the pursuit of noble ends ; he
has left behind him a name worthy to be remembered, and, es-
pecially, by the citizens of this village, for whose welfare and
prosperity he planned so skilfully and labored with so much unflag-
ging energy.

He has built his own monument upon our hills. The great bell
of the University he founded is tolling heavily and solemnly as we
write. Every heart in our midst feels the bereavement almost as
a personal loss. We can write no more to-day. When the sense
of grief and sorrow has lost some of its first severity, we hope to
do better justice to the memory of Ezra Cornell.

EZRA CORNELL is DEAD.
[From the Ithaca Daily Journal, December loth.}

It is difficult to comprehend the full import of these cruel words.
The poignancy of the first grief at a great, an irreparable loss, has
something of the numbing effect upon the senses of a violent

PUBLIC SYMPATHY. 289

shock to the physical frame. We are at such times stunned and
bewildered, and find it almost impossible to realize the fact, much
less the extent, of our bereavement. Such is our condition to-day.
We know that the emblems of woe on every hand — the tolling
bells, the sombre drapings of the whole town, the flags at half
mast ; and more than all these, the sorrow-stricken countenances
and the subdued voices and manners of his neighbors, attest the
painful fact. And yet we cannot realize it. We cannot think of
Ithaca without Ezra Cornell ; cannot conceive how one is to go on
without the other. They seemed to be at least as closely con-
nected as a wise and prudent father and his family. We often see
cases in domestic life where a noble and sagacious father seems to
be in reality the head of the family — the superior member, to
whom all the other members look for advice and guidance, upon
whom all depend for support. How frequently we say of such a
family : " I don't know what Mr. Blank's family would do if he
were to be taken away/' Such were, more nearly than any other
simile which occurs to us, the relations of Ezra Cornell to Ithaca.
In the very few public or private movements, within the past twenty-
five years, for the advancement of our interests as a community —
pecuniary, moral, social, or educational — which Mr. Cornell did
not originate, the first question asked of the projectors was, " Have
you seen Ezra Cornell? He will take hold of the work ; and if he
is for you, no one will be against you, and success is assured, if
success be possible." We do not now speak of his greatest work —
the founding of the great University which bears his name. For
this he is known and will be lamented by all men wherever noble
and generous deeds are held in grateful memory. But we mourn,
chiefly, Ezra Cornell the MAN. We knew him intimately ; and
we know that a more lovable character has seldom appeared
among men. He was truly one of Nature's noblemen. His be-
nevolence was proverbial, though he judiciously and unostenta-
tiously bestowed ; it was peculiarly true of him, if it ever were of
any man, that in his good deeds the left hand knew not what the
right hand did. His strict probity was another salient point in his
character — no man ever held in more utter detestation everything

19

290 EZRA CORNELL.

that was mean or dishonorable. And yet, his large, magnani-
mous heart had no room for malice. No jealousies or rankling
hatreds ever clouded his judgment. The unjust and intemperate
criticisms of his public or private acts by ill-informed or envious
critics ; the malignant misrepresentations and assaults of the
enemies of his pet scheme— a University " where any person can
find instruction in any study " — must have often tortured this pa-
tient, tireless worker ; but they never wrung from him a bitter
word, nor do we believe they aroused any lasting resentment.

The writer of this recalls an instance which came under his own
observation, well illustrating this peculiarly rare and admirable
trait of character. It chanced that he was coming from New York
City in company with Mr. Cornell on the day on which a violent
and venomous speech had been made in the Legislature, in which
it was charged, in effect, that Mr. Cornell was a scheming specula-
tor in the guise of a generous benefactor. Neither Mr. Cornell
nor the writer had heard of this speech. Arriving at Owego at an
early hour the following morning, where both had to remain some
time awaiting the train for Ithaca, both repaired to a neighboring
hotel to pass the intervening time. Here a copy of the Elmira
Advertiser of that morning, containing a telegraphic report of the
speech, was handed us. After glancing over the startling head-
lines, and the points of the bitter attack which followed, we
handed the paper to Mr. Cornell, with the remark : " They have
been cutting you up badly down at Albany, I see ; " and then cu-
riously watched his countenance while he carefully perused the
whole article. No trace of excitement or unwonted emotion was
visible there. After its perusal he remained in a reverie for a mo-
ment, when he said, quietly : " Well, time, that sets all things
right, will demonstrate the falsity of these charges ; I can wait."
No excitement, not the faintest tinge of resentment in his man-
ner or in the tones of his voice. That was the manner of man he
was, in that view of his character. " True and firm " was his
motto ; and never was armorial legend more fairly won. But he
might have added another, his greatest quality, we think — " Pa-
tient." We never knew a man so patient as he, never knew one

TRIBUTES. 291

who had such an unfaltering, invincible faith in the justice of Time.
To his eyes Time was truly the "avenger." He was indifferent to
the misconstruction and misrepresentations of the present ; but if
his faith in the justice of posterity's verdict could have, for a mo-
ment, been shaken, that great heart would have burst. We never
witnessed so grand a faith in the future — such self-abnegation in
the present as this man's hopes, plans, and works evinced.

Of the millions which our departed friend gave to the public,
more peculiarly to us — the University, the Library, the railroads
—some idea can be gained from public records and from an obit-
uary which appears in another place in this issue of the "Journal.
But of his frequent, almost continuous benefactions for the relief
of private persons, or for the aid of private institutions, little is
known or ever will be known to the general public. The quiet,
unobtrusive way in which he gave accounts for this. But hundreds
of the recipients of his bounty do not forget and never can forget
his generosity. One of these met the writer of this this morning,
and related, with a voice tremulous with emotion, how he had been
employed with his team in the construction of the " Cornell Li-
brary " building, one of Mr. Cornell's gifts to Ithaca, and how one
of his horses, by striking his ankle against a rock, received a wound
from which he bled to death in a short time ; and how, while he was
mourning his loss, which he could ill afford, Mr. Cornell called
upon him and, after inquiring the value of the horse, drew a check
for the amount and handed it to him, remarking, with a smile, " I
presume I can better than you afford to lose the horse."

But we cannot continue these reminiscences. If we were to
merely notice the instances of his noble generosity which come
thronging to our memory, we should require a quarto volume, at
least.

Mr. Cornell was a man of marked ability, possessing a remark-
ably strong, vigorous, active mind. Deprived of early advantages
of instruction such as the youth of to-day enjoy, his education was
deficient. He was not a cultured man. But he was altogether too
large a man to affect any accomplishments which he had not, and
hence never appeared awkward or seemed to be in a false position

2Q2 EZRA CORNELL.

among the learned and refined, with whom he was thrown so much
in contact during the latter part of his life. All such soon found
that Mr. Cornell's head was a very good match for the books, and
he soon came to be the most trusted counsellor in all the practical
affairs of the great works with which he was latterly identified.
The history of his management of the affairs of the University is
a marvel of sagacity, patience, and indefatigable industry.

But after all, it was the qualities of the heart which shone most
conspicuously in the character of Ezra Cornell. All good people
admired and respected the man who founded our great University,
and who brought such singleness of purpose and consummate
ability to the work of establishing it upon an immovable, a perma-
nent basis. But those whose good fortune it was to personally
know him forgot the public benefactor in the MAN. This was so
without an exception. The most eminent and cultured, as well as
those in the humbler walks of life, felt this irresistible influence of
the moral greatness of the man. Goldwin Smith and the common
working man of Ithaca alike were proud to call him friend.
Among all the wonderful and admirable works which that illustri-
ous historian, James Anthony Froude, found in his visit here, the
man Cornell commanded his greatest respect, his highest ven-
eration. Just on the eve of his departure from among us, Mr.
Froude paid a glowing tribute to our deceased friend, with the fol-
lowing extract from which we proudly, gratefully close this crude
and hasty sketch :

" Since I landed in America, a few weeks ago, I have had my
eyes opened to a great many things, but I must say I have seen
nothing which, perhaps, astonished and even startled me more
than I have seen in Ithaca. I will not say Cornell University
alone ; there is something I admire even more than the University,
and that is the quiet, unpretending man by whom the University
was founded. (Cheers.) I will not say we wish we had him in
England, for if we had him there it would be dangerous to his lib-
erty, as I think we should take him by force and make him Prime
Minister.

" We have had such men in old times, and there are men in Eng-

UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES. 293

land who make great fortunes and who make claim to great munifi-
cence, but who manifest their greatness in buying great estates and
building castles, for the founding of peerages to be handed down
from father to son. Mr. Cornell has sought for immortality, and
the perpetuity of his name among the people of a free nation.
There stands his great University, built upon a rock — built of
stone, as solid as a rock, to endure while the American Nation en-
dures, and that, I suppose, will be a tolerably long time.

" This I can say, when the herald's parchment shall have crum-
bled into dust, and the antiquarians are searching among the tomb-
stones for the records of these departed families, Mr. Cornell's
name will be still fresh and green, through generation after gen-
eration."

TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT FOR THE HONORED

DEAD.

ACTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF
TRUSTEES OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

The Executive Committee of the Trustees of Cornell University
having received intelligence of the death of the Hon. Ezra Cornell,
ordered that the following Memorandum and Resolutions be en-
tered upon their minutes, and that copies be furnished the family
of the deceased, to the various bodies of which he was a member,
and to the press for publication .

Mr. Cornell was placed in the relation of the President of this
body at the organization of the Board of Trustees in 1865. Dur-
ing the nine years which have elapsed since that time, he has
steadily given his best thoughts and efforts to the great work in
which we have been associated. Although other enterprises cal-
culated to increase the prosperity of the community and the State
in which he dwelt received freely of his self-sacrificing labor and

294 EZRA CORNELL.

of his fortune, the central point in all his planning and working
was the University which he had founded and which bore his
name. His labors have been almost without cessation, and en-
tirely without any alloy of selfishness. In addition to many other
benefactions, his foresight led him to do for the State of New York
what the State could not do for herself, in locating lands for the
benefit of the University. Cleverly discerning that this was ad-
vantageous to the institution which he had established for his fel-
low-men, he freely devoted the bulk of his fortune, his best
thoughts, his constant labors to carrying out this, of which the
only inspiration was the desire to confer a benefit upon young
men seeking advanced- instruction. Having decided upon this
plan, he consented not only to bear labor, but to brave obloquy.
The most bitter opposition, the most chilling indifference, the most
cruel calumny, were alike unable to turn him from this noble pur-
pose.

In thoughtful remembrance of his sacrifices for whatever he
thought worthy, of his deep devotion to whatever he thought just, of
his fearlessness in supporting whatever he thought right, we desire
to record for the benefit of a coming generation, which is doubtless to
show more gratitude than was given during his lifetime, our delib-
erate and solemn testimony that, in a retrospect in all these years
of intimate association, we can recall not one instance of a proced-
ure on his part actuated by a desire to increase his own fortune,
to improve his own position, or to advance his own fame. All
our connection with him, close as it has been, has revealed one
aim, and that aim the improvement, moral, intellectual, and so-
cial, of his fellow-men.

Nor can we close this brief memorial without rendering a trib-
ute of respect to that broadness of view which caused him always
to look above and beyond the boundaries of party, and sect, and
creed, and to labor simply for man as man. In remembrance of
our lamented associate, we add to this memorandum the following
resolution :

.Resolved, That a committee be appointed to examine and re-
port concerning the erection of a suitable memorial to our de-

LIBRARY TRUSTEES. 295

ceased friend at the University which he founded, and that a suit-
able recognition of his services be publicly made at such time as
shall be found fitting ; and be it further

Resolved, That this Board do in a body attend the approaching
funeral.

ACTION OF THE TRUSTEES OF CORNELL LIBRARY.

The founder of the Cornell Library is dead. His generous hand
scatters bounties no more forever. His large heart beats no
longer in sympathy with his country and his countrymen. Sen-
timents of humanity, of benevolence, and of material well-being
henceforth will not kindle in his eye, nor stir to new activity the
torpid pulse. His gigantic labors are ended. Let us hope that
the departed spirit may find with God that repose and peace
which a lofty sense of duty to mankind denied the living body.
May the greeting be, " Well done, thou good and faithful ser-
vant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

How utterly unselfish was his life ; how simple his tastes ; how
unostentatious his manners. As for him poverty had no terrors,
so riches begot no pride. He labored to create wealth, but wealth
acquired was but an instrument in his hand for improving the
condition, increasing the happiness, and cultivating the intellect
and morals of the people. Wealth was not a luxury to be en-
joyed, but a responsibility to be accounted for — a power to be
used in well doing.

His character was pure as molten silver — loving truth, justice,
purity; hating lies, wrong, and vice. The cold reserve of his
manners was warmed by the hidden charity and kindness of his
heart — that heart as tender as a child's.

His apparent severity of expression, in moments of leisure,
blossomed in geniality and mirth. A mind sagacious in forecast-
ing the future as affected by the conduct of the present ; liberal
in his sentiments ; unyielding in his convictions ; charitable in
his judgments ; he stood a power, self-created, self-confident,
crowned by the respect and admiration of weaker natures

296 EZRA CORNELL.

gathered around him for counsel or support. Such was the
man.

By his untiring efforts to secure the greatest good for the great-
est number, he illustrated the utilitarian philosophy ; by his pa-
tient endurance of adversity, calumny, and suffering, without wa-
vering in his noble purposes, he becomes entitled to the Stoic's
crown.

The institutions and public works born of his benevolence, or
sustained by his wealth, are like beacons on the mountain-tops.
Their names and fame are world-wide.

Our people owe an unspeakable debt of gratitude for the works
of his hands and love. To pay it would bankrupt us all, and yet
we would be richer for the payment.

May the Recording Angel write of him in the Book of Life :
" He loved his fellow-men."

In view of this sad event, be it

Resolved, That the Trustees and Members of the Cornell Library
Association hereby express their deep regret and sense of bereave-
ment in the death of Hon. Ezra Cornell, the founder of the Cornell
Library, and the President of this Association from its beginning,
and their humble submission to the mysterious but all-wise order-
ing of Divine Providence.

Resolved, That we will renew our efforts to consummate the pur-
pose which he formed and was seeking to accomplish in the estab-
lishment of this Library Association, whose interests are committed
to our trusts, by adopting measures to fill its alcoves with books —
the best monument our citizens can erect to his memory.

Resolved, That the Secretary of this Association be requested to
transmit these Resolutions to the family of our honored President
and Founder, now deceased, expressing to them the deep sym-
pathy we feel in their great affliction, and commending them to
the tenderness of that merciful God in whose care and goodness
he trusted.

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the records of
the Board.

CITIZENS OF ITHACA. 297

THE CITIZENS' MEETING.
[From the Ithaca Daily Journal.]

Journal Hall was crowded, last evening, with the business men
of Ithaca, met to give fitting and formal expression of their sense
of, and their unfeigned sorrow at, the loss they had sustained in
the death of Ezra Cornell. Every profession, business, and
trade was represented. Men whom the seductive allurements
of political meetings, dramatic readings, or social amusements
could not entice from their dingy offices and the ceaseless routine
of business, seemed to have found an irresistible attraction in the
object of this meeting, for those were present, last evening, whom
we rarely or never see in public meetings of a secular character,
of whatever kind or nature.

The meeting was duly organized, and upon the report of a com-
mittee, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously
adopted :

" Whereas, The hour has come — all too early, save for the wise
purposes of an incomprehensible Providence — when we are called
upon to follow to the grave the remains of our beloved friend and
esteemed fellow- citizen Ezra Cornell ; and

" Whereas, We stand by his bier, powerless to recall the noble
life that has gone out, and helpful only to express, in words and by
our acts, sympathy with the family of the deceased, and our own
deep sorrow on account of the loss that has fallen on our commu-
nity ; therefore be it

"Resolved, by citizens of Ithaca in public meeting assembled,
That in the life and works of Ezra Cornell, we recognize a nobility
of aim, an earnestness of purpose, a brotherhood of motive, the
influence of which has diffused itself through our midst, enlarging
our views of manhood and inspiring us with increased desire for
greater usefulness to our fellow-men ; that, while the imprint of
his ingenious hand is indelibly stamped on one of the most im-
portant devices of modern times — or of all time — for the benefit of
mankind, the Magnetic Telegraph, we are especially mindful at

298 EZRA CORNELL.

this sad hour that the most numerous products of his indefatigable
industry and business enterprise, belong to the village of Ithaca,
and to the county of Tompkins, to have and to hold ; that, by his
large foresight, and the unstinted use of his self-acquired means,
he planted among us an institution of learning whose fame has
already spread throughout the world, rendering the locality of our
home really, as its name is traditionally, classical, drawing hither
the ripest scholars of the age ; by the influence of his presence and
teaching we have been greatly benefited, and our children and our
children's children are to be much more abundantly blessed ; that,
as we stand beside the coffin of our departed friend and neighbor,
to-day, we reflect upon his life-work with divided gratitude — for the
legacy he has left us in the way of intellectual advantages, and for
the impulse which his business enterprise gave to our material
prosperity.

" Resolved, That in the death of Ezra Cornell we lose a towns-
man unselfishly loyal to the welfare of our common village, and a
friend whose memory will abide with us, as deeply and warmly
cherished as in life his daily walk and counsels were esteemed and
respected.

" Resolved, That as a token of our respect for the memory of
the deceased, we unite in closing our respective places of business
between the hours of 12 M. and 3 P. M., on Saturday next.

" Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the village pa-
pers, and a copy of the same be sent to the family of the deceased."

Upon motion the resolutions were unanimously adopted. After
which, Judge Boardman being called by many voices, arose and
spoke, with many signs of emotion, substantially as follows :

JUDGE BOARDMAN'S REMARKS.

GENTLEMEN : — As has been suggested, this is not an occasion
for eulogy, or for alluding to or summing up the character of the
dead. I presume you all feel with me that you have suffered
a great loss — the loss of a great man ; a man whose instincts were
great, in his love of humanity, in his desire for human progress

TELEGRAPH DIRECTORS. 299

and human well-being. A man as utterly unselfish as perhaps is
compatible with human nature ; whose mind seemed to be cen-
tred on the human race, and especially of this locality, of which he
has so long been a resident.

For him poverty had no terrors ; and wealth in no instance in-
spired him with pride. It was a treasure put in his hands — not for
his own luxury and for his own advancement, and that he person-
ally might profit by it ; but rather that mankind, that the com-
munity in which he lived, might receive those benefits which
ought justly to be bestowed on a community. In this way he has
lived amongst us ; simple in his habits— unostentatious in his
manner — attending carefully to his own business — interfering not
at all with the business of others — a man of mark, yet a man of
sympathy ; of kindness of heart, yet of resolute purpose.

To such a man we owe a deep debt of gratitude — too deep to be
paid by any act or expression of grief ; and it would be strange,
indeed, if, now that he is dead and gone, this community should
not overlook his faults. He had faults — none of us are free from
them — but they were trivial, too trifling to be mentioned — let us
throw the mantle of charity over them. Let us not suffer his lit-
tle foibles to draw our minds from the great deeds of his life — from
the grand purposes which he set before himself, and which he so
successfully accomplished. As the spots of the sun neither ob-
scure his light, nor prevent his warm and beneficient beams from
creating life and beauty for all mankind, so the venial faults of
Ezra Cornell did not prevent his life-work from being an honor to
his country, and a blessing to his fellow-citizens to the end of time.
Gentlemen, need I say more ?

ACTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE WESTERN UNION
TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

The Directors of the Western Union Telegraph Company having
been officially informed of the death of their late associate, the
Hon. Ezra Cornell, adopted the following resolutions as a mark of
respect to his memory :

300 EZRA CORNELL.

Resolved, That this Board, at this first meeting after the demise
of our beloved associate and friend, revert to the sad event to ex-
press, so far as words will permit, the hearty tribute of our affec-
tion for his memory.

The records of this Board testify to his energy, his faith, and
courage in the great struggle to conquer adversity, and achieve
success in an enterprise regarded at first as chimerical, but which
he foresaw was in the end to triumph and inure to the benefit of
his country and the world.

It is meet and eminently proper, therefore, that we, his associ-
ates and successors, holding the records of his labors and achieve-
ments in telegraphy, and representing the vast interests which
have grown mighty and strong in his lifetime, should gratefully
acknowledge the obligation, not only of ourselves, but of the
country and mankind, to his discernment, fidelity, and persever-
ance.

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the afflicted family of
the deceased, and tender to them in their bereavement our sin-
cere condolence.

Resolved, That this note of our respect be entered upon the min-
utes of the Board, and a copy thereof furnished by the Secretary
to the family of Mr. Cornell.

MEETING OF THE STUDENTS.

A meeting of the students of the University was held, accord-
ing to announcement, at ten o'clock this morning, in Military Hall,
to make arrangements for the funeral. Major MacMurray pre-
sided. The two Senior companies of cadets were detailed to at-
tend the funeral, fully uniformed and equipped, as an honorary
body guard. They are to be followed by the two Freshmen com-
panies, also fully uniformed and armed. The entire body of stu-
dents, in civilian's dress, will march in procession behind. The dif-
ferent classes are all called upon to meet in Military Hall, at ten
o'clock precisely, on Saturday. Eight of the strongest men among
the students were appointed to act as pall-bearers in carrying the

VILLAGE AUTHORITIES. 3° I

coffin, at nine o'clock, from the residence to the hall ; where they
will stand guard over it and return it to the residence at twelve
o'clock. A committee of four was appointed to draft appropriate
resolutions respecting the death of the honored founder of the
University. It was unanimously ordered that the entire body of
students wear the usual badge of mourning during the remainder
of the term.

ACTION OF THE VILLAGE TRUSTEES.

The Board of Trustees of the village of Ithaca, at their regular
meeting, last evening, adopted the following resolutions :

" Resolved, That in the death of Ezra Cornell we recognize that
this community has been deprived of a public benefactor, that our
loss is irreparable, and that his memory will be cherished so long
as men know how to honor and revere private and public worth.

" Resolved, That his munificence in founding in Ithaca, the
Public Free Library and the noble institution of learning that
bears his name, and his many self-denying labors to promote and
advance the welfare and prosperity of the community with which
he has been so long identified, especially entitle him to be held in
the highest estimation and warmest gratitude by all persons.

" Resolved, That this Board, individually and collectively, ex-
tend their sincere sympathy to his bereaved and deeply afflicted
family.

" Resolved, That this Board attend his funeral in a body.

" Resolved, That the Clerk of the Board transmit a copy of these
resolutions to the widow of the deceased."

PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE VILLAGE.

To the Citizens of Ithaca :

To-morrow (Saturday), the I2th day of December, at one
o'clock P. M., having been designated as the time for holding the
funeral of our late friend and fellow-citizen, Ezra Cornell, and as
all desire to pay due respect to his memory, and give their time

302 EZRA CORNELL.

to the observance of ceremonies befitting the occasion, without
feeling the obligations of business resting upon them, therefore,
I, Adam S. Cowdry, President of the village of Ithaca, do respect-
fully recommend that, so far as it may be practicable, the people
of this village forego, for the whole or a part of the day, their or-
dinary avocations ; and I especially request that all business places
be closed between the hours of 12 M. and 3 P.M., in accordance
with the action of the public meeting last night.

ADAM S. COWDRY, President.
ITHACA, December u, 1874.

ACTION OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE ITHACA SAVINGS BANK.

At a special meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Ithaca
Savings Bank, held December 11, 1874, to take action in regard to
its President, Ezra Cornell, it was

Resolved, That the death of our lamented associate and friend,
Ezra Cornell, fills our hearts with unfeigned regret and sorrow ;
that this institution has lost a wise and judicious counsellor, one
whose interest in its affairs has been unremitting from its organ-
ization, and who has cheerfully given his valuable time to the ad-
vancement of its interests and prosperity.

Resolved, That we desire to record our humble tribute to his
worth, and express our sincere condolence with his family in their
great affliction.

Resolved, That this bank will be closed for business until after
the funeral, and that we will attend in a body.

O. B. CURRAN, Secretary.

THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND TRUSTEES OF THE ACADEMY.

At a meeting of the Board of Education and the Trustees of the
Academy, the following resolutions were adopted :

Resolved, That we, as also the friends of education everywhere,
owe a lasting debt of gratitude to Ezra Cornell. From early

ACADEMY TRUSTEES.

manhood he cherished a deep interest in the great cause ; he es-
tablished and endowed a public library in Ithaca, and gave it to
this town and county ; he founded a university, provided it with
facilities for instruction in all knowledge, opened its doors to
every race and both sexes, and gave it to this State and to the
world ; he freely devoted the ripest fruits and the most active en-
ergies of his life to these munificent enterprises. The name and
memory of Ezra Cornell will be honored and revered so long as
the English language shall be spoken, or written, or read.

On motion, the members of the Board of Education, the Trus-
tees of the Academy, and the principals of the two schools were
requested to meet at the office of Judge Boardman on Saturday
next, at I o'clock P.M., to attend the funeral of Mr. Cornell.

D. BOARDMAN, Chairman.

J. STROWBRIDGE, Secretary.

ACTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE GENEVA,
ITHACA & ATHENS RAILROAD.

At a meeting of the directors and officers of the Geneva, Ithaca
& Athens Railroad Company the I2th day of December, 1874, the
following resolutions were considered and adopted :

Resolved, That the death of Ezra Cornell impresses upon his sur-
viving associates sentiments of deep grief ; that a great public
enterprise has lost its most valuable support, its most intelligent
friend, its most intelligent benefactor ; but the material loss is
overshadowed and forgotten in that far greater loss which our
community and country have suffered, exciting grief in every
heart and sympathy in every act.

Resolved, That the patriotism, the integrity, the industry, the
purity, and the generosity of the noble dead are and will long con-
tinue to be an illustrious guide and example to our people and
community, worthy our constant recollection and inviting an hum-
ble imitation.

Resolved, That the directors and officers of the Geneva, Ithaca

304 EZRA CORNELL.

& Athens Railroad Company, as a mark of respect, attend in a
body the funeral services of the deceased.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be conveyed to the
family of the deceased, with the expression of the profound sym-
pathy of his surviving associates in their sufferings and sorrow.

ACTION OF THE TOMPKINS COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

At a special meeting of the Tompkins County Agricultural and
Horticultural Society, held at their rooms in Library Building, at
ii o'clock A.M., December 12, 1874, the President stated that the
object of the meeting was to make suitable arrangements to attend
the funeral of their honored ex-president, Hon. Ezra Cornell. It
was unanimously

Resolved, That we attend the funeral in a body and march to-
gether to the cemetery.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to draft a sketch of
Mr. Cornell's connection with this Society, and also suitable
resolutions to be recorded in the records of the Society, and re-
port the same to the next regular meeting.

Resolved, That this Society invite the farmers of Tompkins
and the adjoining counties to unite with them in the tribute of
respect for the MAN whose mortal remains are this day com-
mitted to the tomb.

The committees appointed from the County Agricultural Society
and Farmer's Club to express a proper tribute of respect for the
memory of Mr. Cornell, drew up and unanimously agreed to the
following resolutions :

Whereas, We are called to mourn the death of our beloved
friend and esteemed citizen, Ezra Cornell, and

Whereas, By his liberal donation to the Farmer's Club of a
valuable agricultural library and museum, and the use for all time
to come of a commodious and ample room in which to store the
same, and for the meetings of the Society, and

THE FARMERS. 3O5

Whereas, We, as farmers, feel that by his influence, his* coun-
sel, his sacrifices, and his many liberal donations in behalf of
agriculture, we have been benefited more than any other class,
and

Whereas, We desire to express the esteem and veneration in
which his memory is held by us, therefore be it

Resolved, By the farmers in Tompkins County in public meet-
ing assembled, that, in the earnest labors of Ezra Cornell for
the advancement of agriculture, we recognize a nobleness of pur-
pose worthy of imitation, and in his unfaltering faith in the ulti-
mate success of educating and elevating all tillers of the soil, in
common with others, is brought to light a peculiar and beautiful
trait of his noble character.

We recognize the vast benefits conferred, not only on the State,
but the country at large, by his early importation of the best
breeds of domestic animals, by his introduction of many improved
farming implements, by his wise counsels in our agricultural soci-
eties, and by his earnest endeavors to promote their usefulness.
Science and the mechanic arts have received rich and lasting
contributions from his fertile brain. The cause of education has
been advanced through his efforts more than by any other man
of the present age.

While we are mindful of, we can hardly realize all the benefits
conferred upon ourselves and posterity ; for what class, what
industry, what calling has not felt and will not feel for ages to
come the influence of his far-reaching, liberally conceived, and
well-executed plans ?

Resolved, That we, in an especial manner, as also do all men
of like occupation, and friends of education everywhere, owe a
debt of gratitude to Ezra Cornell.

E. L. B. CURTIS, I. P. ROBERTS,

T. BOARDMAN, P. B. CRANDALL,

H. BREWER, W. W. AYRES,

J. ALBRIGHT, L. C. BEERS,

Committee,

20

306 EZRA CORNELL.

MEETING OF RESPECT AT THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

At the regular Friday evening prayer-meeting in the Presby-
terian Chapel last night, the services, at the request of Dr. White,
were entirely devoted to the memory of Mr. Cornell. The Scrip-
tures read, prayers offered, and remarks made were all appro-
priate. The prayers were especially for the relatives of the illus-
trious dead and the institutions which he had left.

SIBLEY COLLEGE IN MOURNING.

Among the decorations of mourning for the loss of Mr. Cornell
seen on every hand, perhaps none are simpler or more tasteful
than those of the Botanical Lecture-room in the Sibley College
building. Between the central columns is sprung an arch, which,
together with the columns, is heavily draped. From the crown of
the arch hangs a Greek cross bordered in black, in the centre of
which is the monogram E. C., encircled by a wreath of laurel.
Above the arch droop the graceful plumes of the urbim grass of
the Amazons. The Mechanical Lecture-room, printing office, and
all parts of Sibley College are also appropriately draped.

FOUNDER'S HYMN.
BY HON. FRANCIS M. FINCH.

The " Chimes" are still. Alone,

As falls the year's last leaf,
The Great Bell's monotone,

Slow hymns our helpless grief.
Bountiful heart ! — bountiful hand !

Bountiful heart and hand !
O ! Father and Founder ! O ! Soul so grand !

Farewell, Cornell ! — Farewell !

From Slander's driving sleet,

From Envy's pitiless rain,
At rest, the aching feet !

At rest, the weary brain !
Laboring heart ! — laboring hand !
Laboring heart and hand i

FOUNDER'S HYMN. 307

So calm, and grave, and still,

Men thought his silence, pride ;
Nor guessed the truth, until

Death told it — as he died.
Lowly of heart ! — Lowly of hand ! —
Lowly of heart and hand !

" True " as the steel to star ;

With eyes whose lifted lid
Let in all Truth — though far

In clouds and darkness hid.
Confident heart !— confident hand !
Confident heart and hand !

" Firm" as the oak's tough grain,

Yet pliant to the prayer
Of Poverty, or Pain,

As leaf to troubled air.
Kindest heart ! — kindest hand !
Kindest heart and hand !

Untaught, — and yet he drew

Best learning out of life,
More than the Scholars knew,

With all their toil and strife.
Conquering heart ! — conquering hand !
Conquering heart and hand !

The spires that crown the hill,

To Plainest Labor free,
Where all may win who will,

His monument shall be !
Generous heart ! — generous hand !
Generous heart and hand !

Brave, kindly heart, adieu !

But with us live alway
The patient face we knew,

And this Memorial Day.
Bountiful heart !— bountiful hand I
Bountiful heart and hand !

CHAPTER XXIV.

FUNERAL OBSEQUIES.

Manifestations of Grief. — Suspension of Business. — Lying in State
in Library Hall. — Funeral Ceremonies. — Vast Concourse in
Attendance. — Services Conducted by Dr. Wilson, and Dr.
Stebbins. — Pall Bearers. — The Procession. — Remains Depos-
ited in Family Vault. — Observances at Syracuse, Auburn,
Aurora, Cayuga, Towanda, Syracuse University. — Dr. Steb-
bins' Address. — " Our Founder."

EVIDENCES of the universal respect entertained by
the entire community, and the all-prevailing sor-
row which was experienced by all classes of peo-
ple, in consequence of the lamented death of Mr.
Cornell, were everywhere manifested. Public
buildings, dwellings, and business houses gene-
rally, were draped in mourning, while on the day
designated for the observation of the funeral ob-
sequies, all of the public offices, banks, stores, fac-
tories, and shops were closed, and there was an
entire cessation of the usual avocations and busi-
ness pursuits throughout the village The fu-
neral ceremonies were attended by a vast con-
course of people, and were impressive beyond
any previous demonstration of the locality. Al-

THE FUNERAL. 3°9

most the entire population were in attendance,
together with thousands from the surrounding
towns, while large numbers of prominent citizens
from every quarter of the State were present to
evidence their respect for the dead, and sympathy
for the living. The subjoined account of the fu-
neral, which was published in the Ithaca Daily
Journal, is herewith presented as an appropriate
conclusion of the record of this notable and useful
career.

THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES.

" EARTH TO EARTH ; ASHES TO ASHES."

[From the Ithaca Daily Journal, December \2.th.\

This morning broke bright and cold, the threatening appear-
ances of the evening previous having fortunately proved delusive.
Somewhat later, grayish, fleecy clouds floated lazily across the
sun, though not of sufficient density to entirely obscure his bright-
ness or to create apprehensions of a storm.

But though all nature wore a cheerful aspect, the appearance of
the town was gloomy enough. Everywhere the eye rested it saw
nothing but the trappings of woe. Every store, hotel, and public
building, and many private residences were heavily draped, and
every flag hung at half-mast. Those business men who had fes-
tooned their store-fronts in black upon the first sad news of our
public calamity, had more heavily and elaborately draped them
on this day when the last solemn rites were to be paid to their de-
ceased friend, helper and counsellor ; and those who had not hith-
erto displayed any public evidences of grief, now seemed to vie
with each other in appropriate decorations. The result of their
combined labors was such as to cast an air of funereal gloom over

310 EZRA CORNELL.

the town, the like of which had never before been witnessed, not
even on that woeful day when the news was received of the " deep
damnation of the taking off " of the peerless President — Abraham
Lincoln. Portraits of the Founder of Cornell University — most of
them very faithful likenesses — were to be seen here and there,
surrounded by tasteful black borders, and surmounted by mottoes,
expressing the estimate which the various owners of the portraits
had of Ezra Cornell. " Humanity has lost a friend," " Our greatest
and best friend has fallen," were a few the reporter recalls of the
many which he noticed.

Business was not formally suspended until noon, but it may be
said to have been suspended, in fact, all day ; little else being
done than preparing for the funeral ceremonies, and little else be-
ing discussed but Ithaca's irreparable loss. The people from the
country came thronging in at an early hour, and trains from every
direction brought large numbers to swell the already great multi-
tudes gathered here. The stages and 'buses, which were draped
in mourning, as also were the cars, were constantly in requi-
sition to carry the fresh arrivals on the different trains to the
already over-crowded hotels. All the forenoon the main streets
were thronged with people, their numbers increasing in a sort of
geometrical proportion as the time drew nearer and nearer the
hour for the final scene.

LIBRARY BUILDING.

The entrances are beautifully and heavily draped, as also all the
windows, with rosettes black and white ; from the cornices depend
heavy folds of drapery. The residence is without any sign of
mourning except the usual simple badge on the door knobs. At
half past nine o'clock precisely the corpse was removed from the
residence to Library Hall, borne by eight student pall bearers,
passing through a line of cadets, armed and uniformed, extending
to the door of the Library. Company A, Fiftieth Battalion, Na-
tional Guard, guarded the entrance and passage-ways to the Hall.
A guard of honor, consisting of a company of Cornell cadets, sur-
rounded the bier. The coffin was placed on a catafalque in the

LAST VIEW, 3H

centre of the hall, and in viewing the corpse, the crowd passed in
at the west door and out through the south door. During the
three hours and a half that the remains laid in state, to be viewed
by the public, hundreds and hundreds of people, with uncovered
heads and solemn step, passed through the hall. By actual count,
four thousand people took a last look at the honored dead. The
corpse, although bearing evidences of wasting disease, looked very
natural and beautiful.

DECORATIONS OF THE HALL.

Library Hall was most beautifully and appropriately decorated.
Upon the platform immediately under the arch stood the life-sized
portrait of Mr. Cornell, which had been removed thither from its
accustomed place in the Library.

The picture never showed to better advantage than as it stands
there above the lifeless features from which it was painted. The
frame of the portrait is trimmed in mourning, and above it in large
evergreen letters is Mr. Cornell's talismanic motto, " True and
Firm," the same which is carved upon his new residence. Over
the motto is the monogram E. C. on a white shield bordered with
flowers. At the foot of the portrait there is a beautiful mourning
rosette, and the American flag arranged in the form of a shield.
This represents the patriotic side of Mr. Cornell's life. Upon the
right are the emblems of the University. There is a vacant
Founder's chair, draped in black, with the exception of a medal-
lion of Mr. Cornell on the back, which is surrounded by a wreath
of white natural flowers, daisies, bouvardia, Chinese primroses,
and other rare flowers, the wreath proper being principally smilax.
The chair stands there upon the stage, a sad reminder of the joy-
ous commencement occasions, when it was occupied by the
founder. On the left of the portrait, is a small marble-topped
stand bearing a cross and crown, which are offerings of the Kappa
Alpha society. There are also on this side of the stage, several
bunches of cereals, emblems of agriculture, one of the industries
promoted by the honored dead. The wall at the back of the
stage is completely covered with sombre drapery ; over the stage

312 EZRA CORNELL.

i
doors, too, are the emblems of mourning ; also around the front

to the floor, and around the front to the gallery. The plate upon
the lid of the casket bears the inscription, " Ezra Cornell, died
December gth, 1874 ; aged 67 years, 10 months, and 28 days." At
the head of the casket was placed a beautiful floral crown ; at the
foot, a floral cone.

THE FUNERAL.

The funeral, which was held at the residence, was considerably
delayed owing to the large crowds that thronged to view the re-
mains in the hall. They were not taken to the residence until
half past one o'clock, and even then crowds and crowds had not
gained entrance to the hall. It was intended to have the funeral
proper very private, only admitting the near friends and those offi-
ciating ; but a great many others had to be present. There were
the trustees and the professors of the University, the trustees of
the Cornell Library, the ministers of the village, physicians, and
many others — all, indeed, that could be accommodated in the
rooms on the first floor, and quite a few were up-stairs. The re-
mains were laid in a large double parlor on the north, where the
near relatives were gathered. At the head of the coffin was hung
black drapery, in the centre of which was seen a sheaf of wheat
fully ripe, and over this depended a wreath of laurels. The floral
offerings were many and beautiful. Those conducting the services
had a position in the hall, and the trustees, professors, and dis-
tinguished strangers, filled the south rooms. The services were
begun at a quarter of two o'clock by Dr. W. D. Wilson, who read
the impressive burial service of the Episcopal Church, beginning,
" I am the Resurrection and the Life." Dr. Stebbins then made
the following brief but affecting remarks and prayer :

" ' I heard,' says the revelator, ' a voice from Heaven 'saying
unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ; Yea, saith
the Spirit, for they rest, rest from their labors, and their works
do follow them.' ' Mark the perfect man, and behold the up-
right ; for the end of that man is peace. He goeth to his grave
like a shock of corn fully ripe.' ' I go to prepare a place for you,

FUNERAL SERVICES. 3U

and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and re-
ceive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.'

"What could I say more? What is there that we need for
our comfort in this hour, dear bereaved friends, but the memory
of the life that has closed ? What greater consolation can we re-
ceive than that these labors were so excellent, so generous, so
abundant, so marked with wisdom ? These labors, too, — all not
finished. How many plans were made so unselfish, for the good
of the community ; to promote the excellent in every art, in all
departments of life ; but more than all, to promote that mature
manhood, that true unfolding of the human soul through the in-
fluences of the Divine Spirit, which gives to us a perfect stature
of manhood, as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

" O ! how precious have been the words of wisdom that have
fallen from these lips ; how excellent the example of daily life ;
in purity of speech ; in manliness of deportment ; in sobriety of
act everywhere, bearing the burdens of great disappointments
with meekness and serenity ; achieving great success with the
same meekness and the same calmness, without pride and with-
out boasting ; and yet, ever rejoicing in the greatness of his manly
heart when God did bless his endeavors for the good of his fel-
low men.

" O ! how precious to this beloved family now is this inheri-
tance of a noble character. What a rich patrimony have you re-
ceived ! How all your life long you have lived in the sunshine
and under the influence of such excellence ! O ! how should the
heart be moved with gratitude to God that you have been thus cul-
tured ; that you have thus been enabled to cherish the best vir-
tues, and have had ever before you an example of wonderful use-
fulness ; a life devoted to the accumulation of wealth, devoted
also to its dispersion, as the Great Giver of all good delights in
scattering the riches of his munificence, rather than in their accu-
mulation. Then when this life, so rich, so full of labor, so full of
plans yet to be accomplished, drew to its close, what a serenity
gathered around it ! Those of us who saw it, know that he walked
as meekly, as calmly, as firmly down into the darkness of the

3H EZRA CORNELL.

shadow of death as he had walked in his daily life in the streets.
O, it was well ! The chamber where the good man meets his end
is precious above all other places — one very near the gate of
Heaven. And but one thing, dear beloved household, was nec-
essary to make these last hours — of which I would not speak if we
were not here, a sympathizing company, to shed tears with you
out of the abundance of our grief — but one thing was wanting, all
the most loving heart could devise, the family link was broken
by the absence of one member who was uninformed that the last
deep shadow was falling. But the rest, with what love, and frater-
nal and sisterly sympathy, did they lift the departed spirit with
their prayers, to the very threshold of the paternal house of many
mansions. And since it must be so, beloved friends and associ-
ates of the deceased, that he must depart, how grateful should we
be that our prayer was answered, that the life might go out as
sweetly as its lamp had burned serenely and steadily before. And
so this dear husband and father, this true friend, of such manly
resolutions, of such grandness of purpose, of such firmness of
will, of such compactness of character, closed his eyes in the last
sleep as serenely as his little grandchild was sleeping in the lap
of its nurse. For this God be praised. We must all depart some
time, and oh, how precious is the memory of such a death ! It
will be impressed upon my mind as long as I remember anything,
and my prayer will be most ardent that I may die the death of
the righteous, and that my end may be like his. So wish we all,
and so let us pray."

Then followed a very impressive and touching prayer by Dr.
Stebbins.

As soon as the prayer was closed the choir of the Congregational
church arose in a group and sang the chant, " Thy will be done,"
with great feeling, adding much to the beautiful solemnity of the
occasion. The friends then viewed the remains for the last time,
when the coffin was closed and conveyed to the hearse by the pall-
bearers as follows : John L. Whiton, William Halsey, Jacob
Bates, Joseph McGraw, John Gauntlett, T. D. Wilcox, George
McChain, Lewis H. Culver.

THE PROCESSION. 3^5

The procession for the cemetery was then formed in the follow-
ing order :

ON THE STREET.

1. Company A, Fiftieth Battalion, N. G. S. N. Y.

2. Carriage with officiating clergy.

3. Carriage with attending physicians.

4. Body-guard of Companies B and E, Corps of Cadets of Cor-
nell University.

5. Hearse with pall-bearers, followed by the family and friends
in carriages.

6. On the flanks the body of students.

ON THE WEST SIDE- WALK OF TIOGA STREET, FACING NORTH.

1. Trustees of the Cornell Library Association.

2. Trustees of Cornell University.

3. Faculty of Cornell University.

4. Alumni of the University.

5. Trustees of Ithaca Academy, and members of the Board of
Education.

6. Trustees of the Ithaca Savings Bank.

7. Tompkins County Agricultural Society.

8. Employes of Mr. Cornell.

9. Delegates from abroad.

10. Village Trustees.

11. Citizens.

The procession moved along Tioga, Mill, Linn, and University
Streets, to the cemetery, where a line of citizens and students was
formed on each side of the avenue, between which the casket was
borne, covered with the floral offerings, followed by the family and
intimate friends, the crowd bareing their heads and bowing in
respect. The DeWitt Guard was drawn in line at the right of the
family vault, where the remains were deposited at half after three
o'clock.

316 EZRA CORNELL.

When the casket was placed upon the bier at the door of the
tomb, Dr. Stebbins solemnly repeated the following stanza :

Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb,
Take this new treasure to thy trust ;

And give the sacred relics room
To slumber in the silent dust.

After this stanza was repeated the casket was placed in the
tomb. When the bearers withdrew and the family approached
and stood by the door, Dr. Stebbins spoke as follows :

" It is finished — the work of our beloved friend and fellow citi-
zen is done ; and we have testified by our tears and our sympa-
thies that ours is now done for him. May his memory linger for-
evermore in our hearts. Accept, mourning fellow citizens, the
gratitude of the bereaved household for this spontaneous, abun-
dant expression of your sympathy with them in this hour of their
great trial, and of your respect for your fellow citizen and their
husband, father, and brother.

" And now, what wait we for but that the baptism of the Infinite
Spirit may rest upon us and fill our hearts ; for, as Christian be-
lievers, we have deposited here the earthly remains of our friend,
in perfect assurance that the spirit has returned to God who gave
it.

BENEDICTION.

" And now may the blessing of the Father Almighty, through
Jesus Christ his Son, so work in all our hearts, and be manifested
in all our lives, that we shall at last be accepted in the company
of the faithful, there to unite with them in ascriptions of praise
and thanksgiving to Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb forever and ever. AMEN."

The body will remain in the vault until its final resting place
shall be prepared on the University grounds, where it was the
wish of the Founder to be buried.

FAREWELL. 3 1/

Thus have we laid all that is mortal of our honored friend in the
tomb. All that is left to us of the kind friend, the public-spirited
citizen, the unostentatious philanthropist and public benefactor,
whom we have known, loved, and honored so long, and whom the
idea of losing forever is as unspeakably painful as it is difficult to
fully realize, is his fragrant memory — the inspiration of his noble
example. These may safely defy the corroding, remorseless tooth
of time. The luminous pages whereon the world inscribes the
names of its benefactors whom it will not suffer to die, will surely
be honored by the name of Ezra Cornell. Bui Ithacans need no
such record. To say nothing of the institution which crowns our
eastern hills, making them classic, our Ithaca, so long as it has a
place and a name among the communities of men, will speak elo-
quently of Ezra Cornell. We know what it was when he found it.
We see what it is as he leaves it. We know the millions he invest-
ed in enterprises, which all saw — none more clearly than that sa-
gacious mind — could never bring direct profitable returns, merely
because with them present prosperity and future greatness were
assured to his beloved Ithaca; without them, this consummation
he so devoutly wished must be long delayed, perhaps, by reason
of some other locality in our vicinity seizing the opportunity which
we neglected, never realized. We trust that others may be found
competent to the less difficult task of taking up the work which
our departed friend's tired hands have laid down forever, and of
conducting these enterprises in such a manner as to realize his
cherished hopes and aspirations. Yes, a far less, difficult task than
was his of originating, projecting, and placing them on sound
bases. We trust and believe that both Ithaca and the University
are to be what our departed friend designed that they should be. But
however this may be, the duty of him, whom loving hands tenderly,
sadly deposited in his "narrow home" to-day, was nobly done.
His is not the fault if the beneficent plans and aims of his life are
not fully accomplished. Let us, then, cease these repinings, self-
ish as vain. Look at those thin hands — oh, how thin ; that
pinched face ; those gray hairs parted over the care-worn brow !
Who would disturb this tranquil rest, and call back to the cares

318 EZRA CORNELL.

of life the weary, worn, aged worker? Let us, rather, with resig-
nation yield him to the narrow house ; for there all is rest and
peace — peace ineffable.

No baffled hope can haunt, no doubt perplexes,
No parted love the deep repose can chafe ;
No petty care can irk, no trouble vexes —
From misconstruction his hushed heart is safe.
Freed from the weariness of worldly fretting,

******
He lies whose course has passed away from life.

A narrow home, and far beyond it lieth

The land whereof no mortal lips can tell ;

We strain our sad eyes as the spirit flyeth,

Our fancy loves on heaven's bright hills to dwell —

God shuts the door, no angel lip uncloses,

They whom Christ raised no word of guidance said,

Only the cross speaks where our dust reposes,

" Trust Him who calls unto His rest our dead."

STRANGERS ATTENDING THE FUNERAL.

A special train arrived on the Cayuga Lake Railroad about
eleven o'clock, bringing the following party from Syracuse : J. J.
Glass, E. B. Judson, N. F. Graves (mayor), Giles Everson, Ezra
Downer, A. C. Powell (ex-mayor), William Kirkpatrick (alder-
man), E. E. Chapman, Carroll E. Smith, Edgar E. Ewers, G. B.
Kent, M. H. Northrup, Professor Charles W. Bennett, H. Cleve-
land, S. B. Gifford, and James Terwilliger.

From Aurora : E. B. Morgan, H. A. Morgan, A. C. Palmer,
G. B. Morgan, H. Morgan, W. H. Bogart, Edward L. French,
Thos. C. Strong.

From Cayuga : J. R. Van Sickle, J. A. Bailey.

From Auburn : About the same hour a special train via the

NEIGHBORLY COURTESIES. 3*9

Southern Central and Cortland roads brought a party of some
forty of the prominent men of Auburn to attend the funeral.
Among them were the following : J. N. Knapp, W. Hollister, C. P.
Wood, Henry Richardson, Charles Standart, George I. Lechworth,
H. N. Lockwood, H. J. Sartwell, O. F. Knapp, J. T. M. Davie,
David P. Wallace, E. R. Fay, A. Fitch, J. G. Knapp, John E.
Leonard, James Henderson, E. G. Storke, C. E. Swift, John
Brainard, William Searles, E. D. Jackson, S. L. Bradley, E. B.
Jones, J. B. Richardson, Charles G. Briggs, M. L. Brown, H.
Hughes, G. Rathbun, G. B. Turner.

Among the strangers in attendance were George R. Dusenberre,
Fred W. Prince, Langdon Wheat, Geneva ; General Steele, Rom-
ulus, and many others.

From J^owanda : Robert A. Packer, Colonel Victor E. Piolet,
Colonel J. F. Means, James W. Ward, A. M. Sanderson, and J.
Robinson.

PRESS REPRESENTATIVES.

The neighboring press was represented at the obsequies as fol-
lows : The Elmira Advertiser by its city editor, A. Towner ; The
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by its city editor, J. A.
Hockstra ; Mr. Carroll E. Smith, of the Syracuse 'Journal j M.
L. Northrup, of the Syracuse Courier.

RESPECT FOR THE DEAD IN SYRACUSE.

At a public meeting of citizens held at Syracuse, Thursday,
suitable resolutions were adopted eulogistic of the late Ezra
Cornell. The board of supervisors also passed memorial resolu-
tions.

A committee consisting of judges of the county, city officers,
and twenty-five leading citizens was appointed to attend the
funeral.

320 EZRA CORNELL.

IN AUBURN.

There was a large meeting of citizens of Auburn in the Court
House, on Friday evening last, called upon short notice, to pay
tribute to the memory of Ezra Cornell. General John N. Knapp
was chairman, and George W. Peck, secretary. General Knapp,
E. D. Johnson, Hon. John L. Parker, Hon. T. M. Pomeroy, Gen-
eral William H. Seward, Charles P. Wood, and George B. Tur-
ner made highly eulogistic remarks in respect to Mr. Cornell. A
series of resolutions was adopted, and a committee of eighty-five
prominent citizens appointed to attend the funeral, which a large
number of them did by special train, over the Southern Central
Road, on Saturday.

RESOLUTIONS AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.

The students of Syracuse University appointed a committee on
Friday, consisting of Professor Bennett, D.D., M. D. Buck, '75,
G. Darrow, '76, L. S. Hutchinson, '77, and G. W. Peck, '78, who
framed appropriate resolutions expressive of the feeling of the Uni-
versity in regard to the death of the Hon. Ezra Cornell.

DR. STEBBINS'S TRIBUTE TO MR. CORNELL.
[From the Ithaca Daily Journal, December \6th.]

We have obtained from Dr. Stebbins the concluding passage of
his sermon, Sunday morning last, on the Discipline of Sorrow, in
which he pays a tribute to the memory of Mr. Cornell :

" This meditation is not inappropriate, I trust, to the sorrowful
solemnities of the past week. Symbols of mourning have hushed
the thoughtless in our streets, and tears of grief have been shed by
strong men when they have met each other in their places of busi-
ness. In all our homes one name has been spoken with hesitating
tongue. Such a tribute is seldom paid to a private citizen, so

DR. STEBBINS'S DISCOURSE. 321

spontaneous, so sincere, so abundant. All felt that they had lost
a good citizen, a bountiful benefactor of the town. He was dis-
tinguished by a sterling integrity, on which calumny could not
cast a shadow, by a marked manliness of character which com
manded respect, by a persevering energy which no obstacle could
turn aside, by views so comprehensive as to be interested in the
construction of a drain or the founding of a University, by an en-
terprise so daring as to think anything needed could be obtained.
He was among the foremost in originating and sustaining all un-
dertakings for the good of the town, by a liberal use of his enlarg-
ing fortune and practical wisdom. He was sensitive to his own
lack of education, which his narrow opportunities in youth com-
pelled, and he felt the importance of opening to the people, and
especially to the young, wider avenues to the sources of knowledge.
To this end he lavished his wealth without stint and his strength
without measure in founding the two institutions which will merit
the gratitude of posterity as well as our own. Nor did he forget,
amidst the riches and honors of such princely munificence, the
wants of the impoverished and the sorrows of the distressed, but
many fires were kindled on cold hearths and many destitute tables
furnished with bread by his quiet, private bounty. How marked
his simplicity of life amidst abundance ! How unassuming his
deportment in the midst of highest success ! How deep his faith
in the capabilities of his fellow-men ! How calm when calumny
darkened the air around him ! How assured he stood in the pan-
oply of conscious integrity ! And when the overburdened frame,
tasked in the great work he had undertaken even beyond its en-
durance, began to bend and break under its burden, how serene
his patience as life was ebbing away, and how submissive to the
great Providence by which he was called to leave his plans unac-
complished, but yet well begun. With what unobtrusive, un-
spoken, but deep religious trust he closed his days ; no murmur
passing his lips, no repining abiding in his heart. What an ex-
ample he has left behind him as an inspiration to the young of the
power of industry, economy, integrity, and benevolence to win
competency and honor.

EZRA CORNELL.

" I need say no more. I hope and believe that soon another
occasion will be given to other lips, more capable than mine, to
truly and fully delineate before the citizens of the town, a charac-
ter so full of richest instruction. In expectation of such a tribute
from other hands, I lay this token (O, how poor !) of my respect
and yours upon the grave of EZRA CORNELL."

OUR FOUNDER.
\From the Ithaca Daily 'Journal, December \\th.\

Our Founder is dead ! And gone forth from our halls

Is the sound of mourning and grief.
All hushed is our laughter ; all draped are our walls,

For the hero whose life was too brief.

"Too brief!" Ah no ! For ere he had gone,

Rich fruit had sprung from the seed.
Seed which are symbolled in wood and in stone ;

Noble marks of his generous deed.

His body may fade, but his works will endure

Through years that are yet to pass by ;
For the name of a man so honest and pure

Will never be suffered to die.

When we gather beside him, as we stand at his bier,

Let us cherish this comforting thought :
That beyond the " dark river" he had nothing to fear,

For his redemption was gloriously wrought.

— S., of1;;.

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